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CHENGDU, China: A strong aftershock jolted southwestern China on Sunday, killing at least two people, destroying 70,000 homes and rattling millions still reeling from the massive earthquake two weeks ago.
The aftershock - the strongest to hit Sichuan province since the devastating May 12 quake - came as the death toll from the initial tremor topped 62,500, and as more foreign aid poured into the disaster zone.
Relief workers raced to reach those in need as the already tough conditions for millions of survivors living in makeshift camps worsened, with rain falling throughout the day and forecasters predicting heavy downpours overnight.
Sunday's aftershock measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, an official with the Sichuan Earthquake Bureau told AFP - making it the strongest since the 8.0 quake that destroyed large swathes of Sichuan two weeks ago.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of Sunday's aftershock at 5.8.
Two people was killed and more than 480 injured, 41 of them seriously, in the aftershock, with the city of Guangyuan, north of the provincial capital Chengdu, particularly hard hit, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
An earthquake relief official in the city of Guangyuan, Wang Fei, was quoted by Xinhua as saying about 71,300 homes had collapsed there, and more than 200,000 others were in danger of collapsing.
The quake - which struck mid-afternoon and was centred about 250 kilometres northeast of Chengdu - sent people fleeing from buildings, AFP correspondents witnessed.
"Houses started to shake and everybody went out into the street," Chengdu resident Lou Taiyi told AFP.
"We were thinking (May 12) was behind us but it is continuing," he said.
The aftershock compounded fears of further destruction stemming from the May 12 disaster - the worst earthquake in China in more than 30 years.
The government said the quake had left 69 dams in danger of bursting and created "dangerous situations" at hundreds of others.
E Jingping, vice minister of water resources, however told reporters in Beijing that authorities had taken a number of steps to alleviate the danger, including draining or lowering the water levels at hundreds of reservoirs.
The death toll continued to rise, with the government putting the figure on Sunday at 62,664, with another 23,775 listed as missing.
Aid continued to pour into the region for the more than 5.4 million homeless survivors and more than 11 million people who China says are expected to be evacuated from quake-hit areas to temporary camps.
A Russian military transport plane carrying tents, blankets, field hospitals and other supplies landed in Chengdu, state media reports said - one of 12 Russian aid flights expected.
A French medical team also arrived in Chengdu and headed for Guangyuan to help treat quake victims there, members told AFP.
China has praised such foreign help, with Premier Wen Jiabao thanking the international community for its help during a visit on Saturday to the devastated town of Yingxiu with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
On the home front, President Hu Jintao urged workers at a factory making pre-fabricated housing in central Hubei province to "go all out and complete the order early, so as to support the earthquake relief work," Xinhua said.
Although state media reported that an 80-year-old man was pulled from the rubble on Friday, rescue teams have admitted the search for survivors was over, with the focus now on clean-up and reconstruction operations.
"I think we have a lot of work to do today, but it will be only finding dead bodies. I don't think there are any more survivors," Saad Attia, a member of a Dutch team combing through the rubble in the town of Hanwang, told AFP.
Grief turned to anger for about two dozen parents of children killed in the quake, who staged a rare protest on Sunday demanding a probe into whether shoddy school construction was to blame for the deaths of their children.
"We are complaining about the shoddy quality of school buildings and we need justice from the government," 38-year-old Yang Fuyong, whose daughter died in the disaster, told AFP.
State media has said 9,000 teachers or schoolchildren were among the dead and missing. The government has vowed to investigate and punish anyone found responsible for substandard construction at schools. - AFP/de
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