Beijing: A strong earthquake struck a lightly populated, mountainous area of western China on Saturday, killing at least one person and causing minor damage to buildings, officials and state media said.

The US Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake had a depth of 14.6 kilometers. It struck late afternoon about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the town of Kangding in Sichuan province. China’s seismological agency however gave the magnitude as 6.3.