At least one person was killed and eleven others were injured in an earthquake that hit southwest China's Sichuan province, news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The earthquake measuring 5.0 points on the Richter scale struck the province early on Sunday. More than 100 houses were destroyed by the tremor, the agency reported.

The earthquake's epicenter was near the city of Suining, which has a population of 3.8 million and is located 140 km (87 miles) east of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, the agency said.

China's most powerful earthquake in 30 years occurred on May 12, 2008, in Sichuan, killing at least 70,000 people and displacing 10 million. Direct economic losses from the quake have exceeded $150 billion.

BEIJING, January 31 (RIA Novosti)