BEIJING (AP) -- At least 43 are dead after a series of earthquakes jolted a mountainous part of Southwestern China and triggered landslides.

A local seismological bureau says the quakes ranged from a magnitude of 4.8 to 5.6 and struck rural, agricultural areas of Yunnan (yoo-NAN') and Guizhou (gway-zhoh) provinces. Another 150 people were hurt.

The bureau says on its web site more than 100,000 people have been evacuated in Yunnan.

The official Xinhua (shihn-wah) News Agency says 20,000 homes have been damaged by the quakes.

Buildings in rural areas of China are often constructed poorly. In 2008, a severe earthquake in Sichuan (sih-shwahn) province, just north of Yunnan, killed nearly 90,000 people. Many of the deaths were blamed on poorly built buildings, including schools.