Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said on Tuesday the death toll of the May 12 earthquake in southwest China is expected to exceed 80,000.

The death toll stood at 69,181 as of noon on Monday, with 374,171 injured and 18,498 missing, Hui said in a report on relief and reconstruction at the opening of the third session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress.

"The May 12 earthquake in Wenchuan County is the most destructive earthquake, one that affected the widest area and one posing the biggest challenge to rescue operations since the founding of the People's Republic of China," he said, admitting that the disaster-relief work is an arduous task.

Hui said the earthquake affected 417 counties, 4,656 townships and 47,789 villages, with a total disaster zone of 440,000 square kilometers. The number of people affected by the disaster was 46.24 million.

A total of 13,685 aftershocks had been detected since May 12, with five measuring above six on the Richter scale, 28 from five to 5.9 and 189 from four to 4.9.

He said the relief work was difficult because most of the badly-hit areas were mountainous or in valleys. The destruction of roads and communication links also prevented rescue staff and facilities from getting into the quake zone quickly.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2008)