Ford's Sichuan plant briefly evacuated after quake

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor said on Monday that staff at its plant in Sichuan Province were ordered to evacuate for several minutes after a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 rocked the area.

"When the earthquake first hit, our staff were ordered to evacuate the plant for roughly 10 minutes, but they have returned to work now," said Kenneth Hsu, a Ford spokesman in China.

Ford's plant in the municipality of Chongqing, jointly run with its affiliate Mazda Motor and China's Changan Automobile Co, has an annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles.