China's most devastating earthquake in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people today, and the death toll is likely to soar as authorities struggle to reach casualties in large areas cut off from relief.
People seek their possessions among ruined buildings in Sichuan Province
The earthquake that hit China's southwestern province of Sichuan killed 8,533 people, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the provincial government.
The epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude quake was in a mountainous region about 100km from Sichuan's capital, Chengdu, a bustling city of 10 million.
The earthquake hit in the middle of the school day, toppling eight schools in the region.
About 900 teenagers were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.
Chemical plants and at least one hospital were also flattened, trapping many hundreds, state media said.
An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County alone, state media said.
As many as 10,000 in Beichuan were feared injured and 80 per cent of the buildings there had been destroyed, it was reported. There had been more than 300 aftershocks, state television said.
Hundreds of people were buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, the official Xinhua news agency said. About 6,000 people were evacuated, Xinhua said, adding that more than 80 tonnes of very corrosive liquid ammonia had leaked.
The quake was felt as far southwest as Bangkok, Thailand's capital, about 3,300 kilometres away, where office buildings swayed for several minutes. It is the worst to hit China in 32 years since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died.
President Hu Jintao had ordered an "all-out effort" to rescue those affected, the official Xinhua news agency said.
One of China's tallest buildings, the Jinmao Tower in Shanghai, as well as other high-rise buildings were ordered evacuated after the quake and aftershocks. Office workers in some buildings were later allowed to return.
In Washington, President George W. Bush said: "I extend my condolences to those injured and to the families of the victims of today's earthquake. I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy.
"The United States stands ready to help in any way possible."
The US Geological Survey said the main quake struck at 0628 GMT at a depth of 10 kilometres. It added there had been an aftershock of magnitude 6.0 at 0643 GMT in roughly the same location and another at 0734 GMT of magnitude 5.4.