The European Union expressed sympathy to China on Monday over the heavy life and material losses in the devastating earthquake that hit southwest Sichuan Province of China.

"We share the grief of all those who have lost loved ones and express our heartfelt sympathies to those who have been injured and suffered heavy material losses in this catastrophe," a statement from the rotating Slovenian EU presidency said.

The earthquake, measured at 7.8 degree on the Richter scale, rocked southwest China Monday afternoon. The death toll in Sichuan Province alone has reached 8,533, Chinese authorities said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)