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.

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.

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

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

Tremors were also reported in Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangsu provinces, the Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities, and the Tibet Autonomous Region, the State Seismological Bureau said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)