(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-13 00:16

BEIJING  -- China's Chengdu Military Area Command has dispatched 5,000 troops and armed police to help with disaster relief work in earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County, in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

Armed police forces stationed in Sichuan province have dispatched 2,900 personnel, while regular army personnel made up the rest of the detachment.

Tian Yixiang, an officer with the emergency office of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), said the troops would assist local authorities in gauging the situation and helping with disaster relief work.

The Military Area Command sent two helicopters to Wenchuan on Monday afternoon.

Later Monday afternoon, the General Staff Department (GSD) of Chinese PLA urged military personnel in Sichuan Province to make every effort in disaster relief work in Wenchuan.

"All troops and armed police in the province should devote themselves to reduce the losses incurred by the earthquake and to protect the safety of life and property of those affected by every means," said the GSD order.

It ordered troops and armed police stationed close to the quake-hit areas to prepare reinforce those already dispatched when ordered or requested by local government.

A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan at 2:28 p.m. Monday, the China Seismological Bureau said. The epicenter of the quake was located 31 degrees north and 103.4 degrees east.

Tremors were also reported in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Jiangsu provinces, Shanghai and Chongqing Municipalities, and the Tibet Autonomous Region, the CSB said.