As of 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, 18 quakes above 5 on the Richter scale had been monitored since the devastating earthquake on Monday in southwest China's Wenchuan County, China Seismological Bureau said Wednesday.

The biggest aftershock reported so far has been a magnitude-6.1 quake that rocked southwest China's Sichuan Province at around 3:10 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the Bureau, a team of 62 seismologists are using 44 earthquake-monitoring facilities in the area to monitor the aftershocks.

A team of 180 members from the state earthquake emergency rescue brigade is now working with another 1,500 personnel from 13 provincial-level emergency rescue teams to help with disaster-relief work.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the teams had rescued 84 survivors.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)