WORLD : China Sends in troops after earthquake kills hundreds.

BEIJING — Chinese authorities on Monday dispatched thousands of soldiers to a remote, mountainous part of China's southwest after a strong earthquake struck Yunnan province, killing at least 381 people. The military has been sent to assist local firefighters and other emergency workers in relief efforts in Ludian County, where more than 1,800 people have been injured and 12,000 homes toppled. Search teams scoured the rubble for survivors Monday. Getty Images Armed police rescue the wounded after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 3 in Zhaotong, Yunnan province of China. China's Premier Li Keqiang also arrived in the region Monday morning to direct relief efforts, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 4:30 p.m. local time Sunday. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the quake as magnitude-6.5 and said the epicenter was in the city of Zhaotong. It was the strongest quake to hit Yunnan province in 14 years, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. Most of the deaths — 357 — were in Zhaotong. Yunnan province is a known earthquake belt and one of China's poorest areas. Delivering relief supplies, including tents, to the worst- affected areas remains highly challenging after landslides and ongoing rainstorms. Heavy rains are forecast for the next three days. "The blocked roads and the continuous downpour have made some disaster areas inaccessible for the relief vehicles," Liu Jianhua, the senior official in Zhaotong as head of the city's Communist Party committee, told the Xinhua news agency. In 2008, a massive earthquake in neighboring Sichuan province left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. Ma Liya, a resident of Zhaotong, told Xinhua that the streets were like a "battlefield after bombardment," with transportation, electricity and telecommunications all cut off. Broadcast footage showed emergency workers climbing over large boulders blocking roads.