More help to find quake survivors

Thousands of extra soldiers in China are being sent to help the massive rescue operation that's taking place after Monday's devastating earthquake.

Entire towns near the centre of the quake in the Sichuan province have been devastated, with no homes left standing, according to authorities.

Nearly 15,000 people are known to have died in the disaster, but tens of thousands more are still missing.

Rescuers are battling heavy rain and blocked roads to try to find survivors.

Click here to see pictures of the quake area

What's going on in China and Burma?

Almost 20,000 soldiers and armed police are already helping the rescue operation across the Sichuan province and another 30,000 soldiers are on their way.

The whole country is in shock after the quake - which was the most powerful one to hit China for 30 years.

The Chinese government says there are more than 25,000 people buried under collapsed buildings.

It's thought many children are trapped after their schools collapsed, and rescuers are working around the clock to save them.

Survivors wait in the rain to be moved to safer areas

Lots of families, whose homes were destroyed, are having to live and sleep in the open air.

The military says it will start dropping emergency supplies into the worst-hit areas as soon as the weather improves.

But for most of the survivors, life is going to be a real struggle for a long time.

Click here for our guide to earthquakes

The head of the Chinese government, Wen Jiabao, promised everything would be done to rescue those who were trapped and to look after the survivors.

"We will save the people," he said, before adding: "The disaster situation is worse than expected, and the rescue sites are quite complex."

Big quake

The quake hit near the city of Chengdu on Monday afternoon and reached 7.8 on the Richter scale, which measures tremors.

The scale goes up to 10, so this was a big quake which was felt as far away as Beijing, 930 miles away, and the Thai capital, Bangkok.