Workers in Beijing pour out of buildings onto the street, evacuated from their high rise offices after an earthquake stuck more than 900 miles away in the Sichuan Province. It measured  magnitude 7.5. It hit 57 miles northwest of the provincial capital about 2:30 in the afternoon.

"It's a little bit startling. We wondered what it was. At first it sounded like the winds. And you can hear the drapes flapping back and forth across the windows. And then we realized that it was actually the whole building was moving, so we all thought it was a good idea to get out."

A quake with this magnitude is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas. In Beijing, building sway for more than 2 minutes, was also felt it in Taiwan's capital,and in Vietnam's capital of Hanoi.Sichuan Province is in the western part of China; its capital is Chengdu of about 10 million people.The area where the quake struck lies on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau where mountains rise sharply and the population density is generally thin.

专题：四川汶川发生7.8级强地震>>