Medical staff treat an injured man at a makeshift hospital after the quake
© AFP/File Mark Ralston

BEIJING (AFP) - Some 10,000 trained medical personnel were working in areas worst-hit by Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake in southwestern Sichuan province, Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang told a press conference.

"Our work is just starting," Gao said. "Our medical personnel on the ground have already reported that no major outbreaks of epidemics have occurred in the quake affected areas."

But a local official expressed concern over the potential of a disease outbreak in the quake-hit region if bodies were not buried soon, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We are in urgent need of body bags," Bai Licheng, an official in Aba Prefecture in Sichuan, told Xinhua.

China said Thursday that over 50,000 people had likely died in the devastating earthquake.

Epidemics often break out in areas affected by natural disasters due to contaminated water and unsanitary conditions.

Though China has learned from past disasters about handling epidemics, outbreaks of disease could occur if medical personnel failed to do their jobs properly, Gao said.

"We have made meticulous arrangements for epidemic control and health work in the affected areas including dispatching a large number of qualified personnel," he said. "If we are to attain the goal of no major outbreaks, the key lies in our work ahead."

Principal tasks included sterilising drinking water supplies, disinfecting contaminated areas as well as vaccinating residents against diseases and isolating those already infected, Gao said.

©AFP