China ordered 101 more helicopters into the air today and planned aid drops into remote areas of Sichuan province as it struggled to cope with the powerful earthquake that has directly affected 10 million people.

Thousands of troops are tonight fighting to plug dangerous cracks in a dam above an earthquake-hit Chinese town.

More than 50,000 people may have died in China’s earthquake, the government admitted today.

China began airlifting aid today to the areas worst hit by a massive earthquake, as new reports of casualties were poised to push the death toll close to 20,000.

Chinese state media have reported that 10,000 people “remain buried” in Mianzhu near the epicentre of the earthquake that has already killed about 10,000.