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The 6.0-magnitude aftershock occurred on Sichuan`s border with Gansu province, the US Geological Survey said, about 1.08am (3.08am AEST) at a shallow depth of 10 km.

Quoting the China Earthquake Networks Centre, the official Xinhua news agency said the aftershock measured 6.0 on the Richter scale and was felt particularly in Sichuan province`s Jiangyou City.

Xinhua said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

It is the latest in a series of aftershocks to rattle the area since a 7.9-magnitude quake hit on Monday, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or missing in and around Sichuan.

Thousands of people have fled in the Beichuan area amid fears a lake could burst its banks, hampering rescue efforts after the deadliest earthquake in more than three decades.

At least one barrier lake, formed after rocks blocked a river, has burst its banks but caused no casualties.

Rescue work has been complicated by bad weather, treacherous terrain and hundreds of aftershocks.

Rescue workers returned to Beichuan county, near the epicentre of the quake, in Sichuan province, but many residents were too frightened to return, nervous about a lake formed after aftershocks triggered landslides blocking the flow of a river.

"After briefly evacuating, rescue work returned to normal at Beichuan,`` an official website said, blaming the evacuation on a false alarm.

A paramilitary officer said earlier that the likelihood of the lake bursting its banks was "extremely big``.

Rescue work had been complicated by bad weather, treacherous terrain and hundreds of aftershocks.

In the provincial capital, Chengdu, some 200km south of the new tremor`s epicentre, buildings swayed and people rushed out into the streets, risking a soaking from a passing storm.

At least 56 people were rescued in Yingxiu, close to the epicentre of the quake but around 11,000 people are thought to remain trapped.

Soldiers engaged in relief work "have their hands stained with blood and earth after days of searches in the debris", Xinhua said.

China has said it expects the final death toll from the earthquake to exceed 50,000.

About 4.8 million people have lost their homes and hopes of finding further survivors are running out, although President Hu Jintao urged emergency workers not to give up efforts to find survivors.

"We should put people first and saving people`s lives is still the top priority of the relief work," he said, just over a week after a jubilant China celebrated the Olympic torch relay reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

Reuters, AFP

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