The trend of aftershocks became weakened and it was not likely any strong destructive aftershocks could happen in the Sichuan Basin the next few days, said Deng Changwen, deputy-director of the Sichuan Provincial Seismological Bureau on Friday.

However, he said, Sichuan might still have several 5 to 6-magnitude aftershocks. But they would not cause any damage to the urban area of the provincial capital Chengdu.

As of 00:00 Friday, 4,432 aftershocks had been recorded with the highest level of 6.5-magnitude. It seemed that there was a weakened trend of aftershocks, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)