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The other reported death came from when a water tower fell in the city of Mianyang. It is feared that the death toll will climb as workers help those in Dujiangyan City in Wenchuan County where houses collapsed during the quake.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has ordered that the country will go all out as they start to help the victims of the quake. Premier Wen Jiabao has been sent in to the area of the quake to direct rescue work.

In 1976 a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the city of Tangshan killed 255,000 people.

The quake on Monday shook Beijing 950 miles from the epicenter. Thousands have been evacuated from Beijing high-rises. The quake's epicenter is near Chengdu.

The quake lasted about a minute.

None of the Olympic venues were affected by the quake according to the Beijing Olympic Committee.

Updates

China's Sichuan province has reported that nearly 900 are buried under their school. No details have come as to whether it is thought that the students have survived the quake.