Officials in Yao’an county, located in a picturesque mountainous part of the province, said that about 75,000 buildings in total were damaged by the 5.7 magnitude shaking.
Tens of thousands of people were moved into tent camps that were set up over the weekend to house and feed those left homeless.
Many of those that did not sustain significant damage to their homes slept outside due to strong aftershocks that continued to jolt the area for days after the initial quake.
Officials on Saturday scaled down their estimates of how many people were affected by the quake. Initial reports said it displaced 400,000 people, but provincial authorities now believe 250,000 people were left without homes, according to the country’s official Xinhua news agency.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 7:19 p.m. local time on July 9 at a relatively shallow depth of only 6 miles. The epicenter was placed about 60 miles east-northeast of the city of Dali.
The China Daily reports Yunnan is a quake-prone, mountainous region on the country's southwestern border with Thailand and Myanmar. Since 1976, the area has been hit by at least 15 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6.0.