Thousands of people have been killed by Monday's powerful earthquake in just one affected region of central China, its government said, with the toll expected to keep rising as bodies are retrieved from schools, homes and factories. State-run news agency Xinhua said the official toll had risen to 8,533 in Sichuan Province. It reported that authorities were yet to reach Wenchuan County, which sits at the epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake with a population of about 112,000.

In Beichuan County, close to Wenchuan, the number of deaths was estimated at more than 3,000, with 80 percent of the buildings destroyed. In addition, at least 48 people were killed in the northwest Gansu Province, Xinhua said. Several hundred students were also feared to be buried in collapsed school buildings, the agency said. China's Seismological Bureau said the earthquake had affected more than half the country's provinces and municipalities.

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