Landslides were triggered by the earthquake, destroying houses, while some areas suffered damage to infrastructure and communication links, Chinese national television reported on Monday.
Tremors were felt most strongly in the province's Luding County, southwest of the metropolis of Chengdu, where people fled their homes in terror after the quake struck.
"Everyone was scared. Before, earthquakes were not very fierce," a woman working in a hotel in Luding told dpa over the phone. She described people rushing out of their houses and not daring to go back in until long after the tremors subsided.
While the city was not so badly affected, the woman said that the quake was "very strong in the countryside."
Chen, also working in a hotel in Luding, said, "the earthquake here is a bit fierce, but our houses have not been affected. Earthquakes are frequent here. Everyone is aware of safety. Now there are no aftershocks, and everything is OK."
The tremors were felt as far as Chongqing, over 500km away. "At first, I thought I was going to faint," a woman living in the 10th floor of an apartment building in Chongqing said.
No major damage was reported in Chengdu, but reports from more rural areas suggest that the countryside was worse-hit.
More than 80,000 people died in Sichuan in 2008 when a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck the region. The province is particularly prone to earthquakes because it lies along the fault line where the Indian and Eurasian continental plates meet.
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