Seven aftershocks hit Sichuan and its surrounding areas in a day, with thousands of houses and dozens of small bridges destroyed, China News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The strongest one was a 5.6-magnitude aftershock in Mianzhu, Sichuan province, at 2:03 am Tuesday morning. Several people suffered minor injuries but no fatalities were reported.

Officials released that two of the aftershocks had magnitudes over five, four over 4.3 and one over four.

The aftershock of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake had destroyed 8,600 houses owned by farmers, 60 small bridges and about 30 kilometers of fiber-optic cables, according to the officials.

The China Earthquake Administration website said one construction worker fractured his hand trying to open a door.

The seismologists in Sichuan have not ruled out the possibility of future aftershocks in the area. Aftershocks to a major earthquake could continue for years, and the five-magnitude aftershock is also possible.

So far, scientists have recorded 57,000 aftershocks in the province following last year's 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake, according to the Sichuan Earthquake Administration.

According to the experts from the Sichuan Earthquake Administration, the frequent aftershocks in these days were normal phenomenon for the attenuation process.

China