Deadly earthquake strikes China's Sichuan province

June 1 (UPI) -- Four people are dead and 14 others were injured Wednesday after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Ya'an, a city in southwest China's Sichuan province.

The quake jolted Lushan County in Ya'an at 5 p.m. Wednesday Beijing time, and was followed by a 4.5-magnitude quake in Baoxing County at 5:03 p.m., according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The quake was felt as far away as Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu.

A school teacher, who lives in Xinjin district of Chengdu, about 62 miles from the epicenter, told the Global times he felt the quake.

"I was in a classroom on the fourth floor of a school building, and the level of shaking I felt was several times that of the magnitude 3.0 or 4.0 quakes that have occurred recently," the teacher, surnamed Jiu, said.

"The students were rather scared because one wave of quakes ended and then another round came," he said. "Two such consecutive earthquakes and the intervening horizontal waves have hardly been experienced before."

As of 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, Ya'an city earthquake relief headquarters said the four people who died were hit by falling rocks in Baoxing County. All of the injured were being treated at area hospitals, while more than 4,500 rescuers were working to find anyone who may be trapped.

Ya'an city officials were assessing the damage. Police and fire crews were repairing roads and relocating residents whose homes were damaged.

The State Council's Earthquake Relief Headquarters Office and the Ministry of Emergency Management have sent a team of experts and have activated a Level III emergency response.

Experts related Wednesday's 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Ya'an to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2013 that killed more than 100 people and injured thousands.

Both quakes were triggered by the Shuangshi-Dachuan fault zone and were centered less than 6 miles apart.