Monday's earthquake has taken 1,500 tolls in Mianzhu city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, and at least 10,000 people remain buried, the local government confirmed.

More than 5,500 people were known to be trapped across Mianzhu, but about 20,000 people in its three mountainous villages were still out of reach, said Jiang Guohua, a top official in the city.

"We estimate at least 5,000 people in Qingping, Jinhua and Tianchi villages are still trapped," he said.

The city government has sent four relief teams to these villages by Tuesday morning. "The relief workers will hopefully help restore social order and choose sites for air dropping supplies."

Massive landslides following the quake have buried roads in the three villages. "It's hard to resume traffic anytime soon," said Jiang.

He said it was also unable to obtain information from the mining areas in the mountains.

Nearly 3,000 policemen and soldiers have arrived in Mianzhu to help with the rescue work, and at least 200 medical workers from Sichuan and Chongqing are providing first-aid, he said.

Earthquake death toll in Shaanxi Province rises to 92

The death toll in northwest China's Shaanxi Province from Monday's earthquake has risen to 92, and 718 people were injured, the provincial emergency office said on Tuesday morning.

The earthquake has killed 92 people, injured 718. It also toppled down 17,427 houses.

The electricity was cut off in three counties including Taibai, Liuba, and Nanzheng after the earthquake measuring 7.8 degrees on Richter Scale hits Wenchuan county in southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday.

All the three counties have resumed electricity supply on Tuesday morning.

Earthquake death toll in Gansu rises to 213

The death toll in northwest China's Gansu Province from Monday's earthquake has risen to 213 from the previous 189, the Gansu provincial government said on Tuesday afternoon.

Rescue and disaster relief work could be hampered by rains which were forecast by the Gansu Meteorological Bureau for the coming two days.

Showers were predicted to hit Wenxian County in Longnan City, which was isolated from the rest of Gansu after all roads were cut off, for the whole Tuesday. Wenxian recorded 51 deaths so far.

Longnan City, about 240 km northeast of the epicenter Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, with 183 deaths, was the worst hit area in Gansu.

The earthquake has so far toppled 4,200 houses and 510 cave dwellings, an endemic residence in northwest China, and damaged 6,700 houses in Gansu.

The Gansu provincial government has sent more than 4,000 tents to affected areas.  

18 aftershocks occur following Sichuan quake

As of 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, 18 aftershocks, including two aftershocks of 6-magnitude, had occurred following a strong quake jolted Wenchuan in southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday afternoon.

Among these aftershocks, two are 6-magnitude and 16 are 5-magnitude,according to the China Earthquake Administration here on Tuesday.

The 7.8-magnitude quake, which occurred in Wenchuan Monday afternoon, has killed 9,219 people in eight affected provinces and municipality including Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guizhou and Hubei, the ministry of civil affairs said at 7:00 a.m.