China's sichuan rocked 1,180 aftershocks

2008-05-13 09:05:29 - Wenchuan county in dire straits .Death toll figure was expected to rise dramatically with at least 10,000 people alone buried in Mianzhu city in Sichuan. More than 5,000 people have been killed in one district, Beichuan, where 80 percent of buildings collapsed, according to Xinhua.

Developed world including the United States, the European Union, Russia and Japan pledging China with sympathy and assure of help.

The powerful quake struck at 2.28 pm on Monday and rocked skyscrapers up to 1,800 kilometres (1,200 miles) away in cities across China and parts of Southeast Asia, where panicked residents fled into the streets. The quake hit in the middle of the day when schools, factories and offices were full. While many buildings in larger cities withstood the impact, buildings in rural areas would not have been built to withstand such a large quake.

The area had been rocked by more than 1,180 aftershocks of up to magnitude six as of 5:00 am on Tuesday, the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said.

Wenchuan county, a ridge region of around 120,000 people situated in the epicenter,remains to be explored and all communication appears to be cut off and feared most affected area.But an official in Wenchuan did appeal for emergency aid via satellite phone.

"Several thousand" were reported killed or buried in the nearby town of Hanwang after a factory collapsed, while over 600 people died and 2,300 were buried in Shifang city where there was a major chemical leak.

Relief forces were battling to reach the worst-hit areas of Wenchuan county approaching on foot, Xinhua said, as vehicles were not able to use the road littered with rocks, boulders, conglomerates.

All lines of communication were cut with the county, which is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas.

"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment through air drop," Xinhua quoted Wang Bin, Communist Party secretary of the county, as saying.

"We also need medical workers to save the injured people here."

The health ministry dispatched emergency medical teams to Wenchuan and the Chinese Red Cross sent tents and quilts.

The quake's epicentre was about 93 kilometres from Chengdu, a city of more than 12 million people, and 260 kilometres from Chongqing and its 30 million population.

The death toll is the highest for a quake in China since 242,000 people perished when the northern city of Tangshan was flattened in 1976.