Another person was killed when a water tower collapsed in the city of Mianyang and at least 10 more have been injured in the rural area of Wenchuan, close to the earthquake’s epicentre.

Premier Wen Jiabao is travelling to the epicenter and China’s People’s Liberation Army troops are being dispatched to help with disaster relief.

Hospital patients wait outside after an earthquake in Fuyang, in China's Anhui province

The airport in the provincial capital, Chengdu, is closed and roads clogged with traffic, state television reported.

Around 44 aftershocks have been reported since the quake which was felt as far away as Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan.

A motorcyclist rides on a debris-covered road in Sichuan province

Tremors were felt in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the street.

The earthquake also rattled buildings 930 miles to the north in Beijing, less than three months before the Chinese capital city is due to host the Summer Olympics.

Thousands of people evacuated buildings in Beijing, 900 miles from the epicenter

Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Olympic Games, which start in August.

Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist at the USGS in Colorado said: “I would say the best characterisation at this point is that it’s a dangerous earthquake.”

“The entire area is a densely populated part of China."

He added: “There are lots of people exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking.”

State television is broadcasting advice for anyone trapped in the earthquake.

“If you’re buried, keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food, and wait patiently for rescue,” they said.

Although telephone systems are reportedly jammed or out of service, Israeli student, Ronen Medzini, managed to send a text message to a press agency.

It read: “Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting.”

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 6 miles below the surface.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.

The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.

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