An earthquake killed 12 people, injured nearly 400 and destroyed 8,500 homes in Jiangxi province in eastern China on Saturday morning, the official Xinhua agency reported.

Some 130,000 homes were damaged in the worst-hit Jiujiang and Ruicheng counties, while 420,000 people were evacuated to safer areas as emergency officials rushed tents to the zone to shelter the homeless.

The quake, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale, hit at 8.49 am local time. It was followed around 20 minutes later by two aftershocks, Xinhua said.

By noon local time 6 people were reported dead in Jiujiang county, while 247 were injured, 8000 houses had collapsed and 29,000 were damaged, Xinhua said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website that the earthquake was "moderate" and of magnitude 5.5 at a depth of 10kms (6.2 miles).

Officials there said they were still assessing the extent of the quake, while a hotel receptionist who declined to give her name told Reuters that residents had been scared but rural areas were probably worst hit.

"You could hear windows vibrating, everyone ran out into the street. But I haven't heard of any buildings collapsing in the city, I think it was some kilometres away."

In Ruicheng, 6 people died, 130 were injured, 500 houses collapsed and 100,000 were damaged, Xinhua said.

The quake was also felt in neighbouring Hunan, Hubei and Anhui provinces, state television reported, while in the industrial hub of Wuhan, people frightened by the tremors rushed into the street, residents said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Debris is seen at a street after an earthquake struck in Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi province, November 26, 2005. (Reuters)