Beijing: Rescuers rummaged through rubble to look for survivors, after a strong quake in North Western China's Xinjiang province on February 24 left 261 dead and thousands injured, official reports said.

Rescue and relief operation is going on to help the 2,050 injured and to remove the rubble of some 8,861 houses and 900 classrooms that were flattened in the worst affected Bachu and Jiashi counties when the tremor, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, rocked the region.

Large quantities of disaster-relief materials, including tents, cotton coats and quilts, were despatched to the remotely located disaster area bordering Central Asia, the reports said.

Wang Lequan, top leader of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, who is a member of the politburo of Communist Party of China (CPC) central committee and secretary of CPC Xinjiang committee on February 25 flew in from Beijing, where he was attending a party meeting, to supervise the disaster relief activities, Xinhua reported.

The leading rescue group led by Yang Yanyin, Chinese Vice-Minister Of Civil Affairs, who arrived in the provincial capital Urumqi on February 24 night, would leave for the quake-hit areas on February 25.

PTI