Eighty people have been confirmed dead as of 8 a.m. Saturday after multiple earthquakes struck southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, authorities said.

The death toll may further climb as the quakes happened at a poverty-stricken mountainous region where telecommunications and traffic infrastructure were damaged seriously, making it difficult to collect information promptly, said a spokesman with the provincial civil affairs department.

Rescuers in Yunnan Province said on Friday night they had reached 90 percent of the six quake-hit counties under Zhaotong, where a total of 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes.

The disaster has so far incurred 3.5 billion yuan (551 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses, Yunnan's civil affairs department said.

Two quakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale hit a border area near Yiliang in Yunnan and Weining county in Guizhou province at 11:19 a.m. and 12:16 p.m. Friday, respectively.

The quakes have cut off electricity and triggered landslides that have blocked roads, creating complications for rescuers.

Yunnan's civil affairs department said the quakes destroyed 6,650 houses and damaged 430,000 others. More than 100,000 residents have been evacuated and 100,000 others are in need of relocation.

Local authorities are also taking epidemic control measures after shed collapses had killed more than 4,300 heads of cattle in Yunnan. Over 153 hectares of farmlands were damaged or destroyed.

Officials in Guizhou said two people were injured and lives of nearly 28,000 people were disrupted in Weining county. Eighteen houses were toppled and more than 10,000 houses were damaged in the quakes.

【新闻快讯】

中新网9月8日电 综合报道，云南省民政厅8日凌晨通报称，截至目前，7日中午发生在云南彝良县的地震已造成当地80人死亡，795人受伤，74.4万人受灾。

9月7日11时19分，云南省昭通市彝良县与贵州省毕节地区威宁彝族回族苗族自治县交界发生5.7级地震。12时16分，昭通市彝良县又发生5.6级地震。随后又发生多次余震。

云南省民政厅称，地震造成昭通市彝良县、昭阳区和大关县3县24个乡镇受灾。不完全统计，灾区房屋倒塌1900户6650间，严重损坏3.7万户12.2万间，一般损坏13.3万户30.8万间，需紧急转移安置人口20.1万人，直接经济损失35亿元人民币。灾情仍在进一步统计中。

（中文新闻摘自中国新闻网）