EARTHQUAKE in CHINA Kills over 5,000

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao described the quake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, as a "major disaster" and appealed for calm. The estimated death toll covers just one county - Beichuan - in the south-western province of Sichuan that was worst hit by the quake. Ten thousand people are feared injured in the county.

Fatalities have also been reported in neighbouring provinces and the death toll is expected to jump as contact is made with regions cut off by the disaster. Rescuers are battling to free 900 students buried beneath their high school in the city of Dujiangyan, in Sichuan. It is not clear how many survived the collapse of the three-storey building.

"Facing disaster, the most important thing is calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership," said Mr Wen on board a flight to the worst hit regions. "We will definitely overcome this major disaster".

The earthquake, which struck at 2.28 pm local time (7.28am BST), caused buildings to sway thousands of miles away in Beijing, Taiwan and even Bangkok. The quake hit 58 miles north-west of the Sichuan's capital city of Chengdu, but deaths have been reported as far away as the northwestern province of Gansu, where at least 10 people were killed.

The first reports of deaths came from Chongqing in Sichuan province, where two primary schools collapsed killing four students. At least one other person died, and another 100 were injured, according to the authorities. Immediate reports told of residents fleeing their offices and homes in panic as they shifted violently in the shock, just before 2.30pm local time. Television pictures showed some residents clutching bloodied faces.

The army has been mobilised to help with relief efforts.

The epicentre was in the rural county of Wenchuan. Immediate but unconfirmed reports said that some buildings, including the county hospital, had fallen down. But a regional emergency planning official said he had no full picture of conditions there as telephone lines were either down or overloaded.

The local government issued a statement saying that buildings and roads had been damaged and people injured but gave no estimates of casualties.

Wenchuan is at the tip of Tibetan-occupied areas of the country, and generally sparsely populated. Its total official population is 110,000.

South-eastern Sichuan and the greater Chongqing area are among the most densely populated in China, however. Chengdu's population is more than 12 million.

The strength of the earthquake and the extent of the affected area suggest that the death toll is likely to grow.

In Beijing, almost 1,400 miles away, buildings swayed for two minutes, while the effects were felt all over the country. In Shanghai, the Jinmao tower, the country's tallest building, was evacuated, along with many other of the city's skyscrapers, while residents reported feeling the tremors even in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

"People in our building all panicked. We went out for shelter. I felt a strong earthquake, similar to the one in Kobe [Japan]," said Shen Jie, a banker working in a Japanese bank on the 20th floor of a Shanghai skyscraper.

It was also felt in neighbouring countries as far south as Bangkok, Thailand.