STRONG QUAKE KILLS HUNDREDS IN CHINA

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At least 400 people died and a further 10,000 were in need of urgent medical attention after a strong earthquake on Wednesday hit the remote northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai, near the Tibetan border.

Beijing dispatched hundreds of troops to Qinghai Province's Yushu county and some aid shipments from private organisations have set off from the provincial capital, Xining.

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“I see injured people everywhere. The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers,” Zhuohuaxia, a local spokesman, told the Xinhua news agency.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have demanded no effort be spared in rescue attempts, and sent Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu to Qinghai to oversee relief work, state television said.

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Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who was born in Qinghai, said in a statement he was praying for the victims. “It is my hope that all possible assistance and relief work will reach these people. I am also exploring how I, too, can contribute to these efforts,” said the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Although the quake was centred in one of China's most remote and sparsely populated regions, Chinese experts said there were likely to be heavy casualties because it struck in the early morning when most residents were still in bed.

The Chinese Earthquake Administration said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and struck at 7:49 am local time on Wednesday but the US Geological Survey, which tracks earthquakes worldwide, said it measured 6.9.

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Witnesses described scenes of confusion and panic as crowds of injured and bleeding people gathered in the county township of Jiegu, which has a population of about 100,000.

The quality of construction and buildings in the region was likely to be relatively poor and unable to withstand strong tremors, Chinese experts said.

The government said 5,000 soldiers and police had been dispatched to Jiegu, where roads to the airport were damaged and most phone lines were down, and 700 soldiers were working in the rubble to rescue people.

In nearby Chengduo county, Qiu Zhen, the wife of a retired government official, told the Financial Times that many single-story earthen houses had collapsed causing injuries.

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“We heard some schools and hospitals collapsed in Yushu but we haven't been there,” Ms Qiu said.

Some 30-40 students were buried in the collapse of a vocational school, according to government reports.

The quake triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut power lines and cracked a reservoir.

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A government official in Jiegu said the authorities were in urgent need of tents, medical personnel and equipment.

The epicentre of the quake was about 200km away from the Qinghai-Tibet railway but Chinese media reports said it was unclear whether the rail line had been affected.

In May 2008, a magnitude-8 earthquake hit neighbouring Sichuan province, killing more than 80,000 people.