The strong quake shook the mountains in the areas, making them more prone to mudslides and other disasters. And the torrential rains finally triggered the disasters, said He Ping, a member of the Chinese Research Institute of Geological Disasters.

Li Yungui, head of the geological environment monitoring station under the provincial land and resources department of Sichuan, said the earthquake had seriously damaged the geological environment in these areas.

Work teams dispatched by the department after the quake found nearly13,000 sites at risk of potential geological disasters in Sichuan, Li said.

The influence of the quake would last for 10 more years and especially mudslides would cause casualties and property losses in the following three to five years, said Song Guangqi, head of the department.

Song's opinion was shared by Qian Jiangpeng, Chief engineer of Sichuan Provincial Geo-Engineering Prospecting Institute.

Qian said the quake-hit zones in Sichuan would need to brace for more geological disasters during the upcoming 10 years.

The earthquake was also blamed for causing the huge mudslide which hit Zhouqu County in the northwestern Gansu Province on Aug. 8, as it shook the mountains around Zhouqu, said Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi.

As of Tuesday, the mudslide in Zhouqu has left 1,270 people dead and 474 others missing.