(Yicai Global) June 18 -- Thirteen people have died due to a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit southwestern China's Sichuan province last night, China National Radio reports. 

Sichuan's capital city Chengdu alerted residents by issuing warning messages via TV and SMS to 101 communities, including local administrations, communities and schools, one minute before the ground shook, China News reported today after seeing videos on social media about these alerts. Some 212 schools in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces received the notice, according to preliminary statistics.

The southeastern city of Yibin, located in the epicenter of the quake, alarmed residents 10 seconds before the incident. Leshan, 160 kilometers away, made such an announcement 43 seconds prior the tremor. Theoretical studies show that a notice of 10 seconds can reduce the number of casualties by nearly 40 percent. That of 20 seconds can drop the number by over 60 percent.

The warning system has sensors that detect the tremors and send timely information to regional terminals, Wang Dun, head of the Chengdu High-Tech Institute of Care-Life which built the system with a local emergency management department, told China News. 

The system covers 90 percent of the population that lives in China's earthquake-prone regions and it has warned about 53 quakes. Yibin installed the technology in township governments as well as primary and secondary schools at the end of 2012. The system draws a map of the quake-hit region in order to help rescuers find the injured faster.

Editor: Emmi Laine