Hundreds of medical staff also have bee sent to the region.

Small mud-rock flows were still occurring in the county, according to a report from a 10-strong rescue team sent by the fire department of Sichuan police department.

Rescue operations, however, could be further complicated as rains were forecast for the coming five days.

Rescuers are searching for survivors.

Two thirds of county's power was out and some communications links were also down because of electricity cuts.

By 4:14 p.m., power supplies in some parts of Zhouqu, including the temporary settlement center, hospitals, two middle schools and communications base stations, were resumed.

The roads in the outskirts of Zhouqu County had reopened after they were blocked by the mudslides.

By 3 p.m., the provincial civil affairs department has sent 3,900 tents, about 40,000 boxes of instant noodles and 31,300 boxes of bottled drinking water to the county.

The county badly needs 400 tonnes of drinking water and 20 tonnes of instant food per day, said a spokesman with the prefecture's government.

It would need 10,000 tonnes of water and 500 tonnes of instant food in the following 25 days, after which life was expected to return to normal, said the spokesman.

The Ministry of Finance announced Sunday said it had allocated 500 million yuan (73 million U.S. dollars) in emergency aid to fund rescue efforts.