Monday's earthquake has taken 1,500 tolls in Mianzhu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, and at least 10,000 people remain buried, the local government confirmed.

More than 5,500 people were known to be trapped across Mianzhu, but about 20,000 people in its three mountainous villages were still out of reach, said Jiang Guohua, a top official in the city.

"We estimate at least 5,000 people in Qingping, Jinhua and Tianchi villages are still trapped," he said.

The city government has sent four relief teams to these villages by Tuesday morning. "The relief workers will hopefully help restore social order and choose sites for air dropping supplies."

Massive landslides following the quake have buried roads in the three villages. "It's hard to resume traffic anytime soon," said Jiang.

He said it was also unable to obtain information from the mining areas in the mountains.

Nearly 3,000 policemen and soldiers have arrived in Mianzhu to help with the rescue work, and at least 200 medical workers from Sichuan and Chongqing are providing first-aid, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)