Agony ... an injured man reacts in pain while being carried out from the debris of a collapsed building at Juyuan Middle School after an earthquake in China's Sichuan province. A massive earthquake toppled buildings across a wide area of central China , killing more than 8500 people, trapping hundreds of students under the rubble of schools and causing a toxic chemical leak in one of the worst quakes in decades / Reuters
School destroyed ... a man whose leg is trapped receives care in the debris of a collapsed building at Juyuan Middle School, where 900 students are feared to have been buried / Reuters
Widespread damage ... injured students receive medical checks near the debris of a collapsed building at a primary school at Liangping County after an earthquake in Chongqing municipality / Reuters
Rescue effort ... a man tries to pull an injured woman out from the debris of a collapsed building at Juyuan Middle School / Reuters
Helping hands ... rescuers carry an injured man out from the debris of a collapsed building at Juyuan Middle School / Reuters
Vulnerable ... newly born babies are moved at a hospital after an earthquake occurred in Nanchong, a city in southwest China's Sichuan province / AP
China shaken ... in this photo distributed by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, a man tries to find usable things among the debris of collapsed buildings in Dujiangyan / AP
Earthquake ... rescuers search for victims in the debris of a hospital / AP
Needing help ... a man injured during an earthquake receives medical treatment in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province. Up to 10,000 people have been injured in Sichuan's Beichuan county alone. About 80 per cent of buildings in Beichuan have collapsed / Reuters
Sleeping out .... a child sleeps outside on a street after in the Chongqing municipality, one of thousands of Chinese to spend the night outdoors / Reuters
China earthquake ... family members gather at the remains of the collapsed Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan, where up to 900 students are feared buried alive. The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake is expected to soar / AFP
Terrible death ... rescuers search for the students buried in the debris. The 7.8 magnitude quake, which has so far killed 8500, was felt as far away as Bangkok and Hong Kong / Reuters
Taking no chances ... medical staff and family members evacuate patients from a hospital in Chongqing, located close to the earthquake's epicentre / AFP
Public street ... patients are evacuated from a hospital in Chongqing. The European Union has offered aid to China / AFP
Chaos ... Chinese shoppers and office workers rush out on to the streets in Chengdu city center, in Sichuan province / AFP
Panic ... people look upwards after running out of high buildings in Nanjing, northwest China / AP
Like cardboard ... a destroyed house on the outskirts of Mianyang, Sichuan province / Reuters
Call for calm ... Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao looks at a map of Sichuan province on his flight to the earthquake's epicenter / Reuters
Rubble ... a rescuer searches for victims in Chongqing / Reuters
Emergency ... medics prepare to treat wounded students at Juyuan Middle School / AP
Overwhelmed ... a Chinese women cries on a street after the earthquake hit Chengdu / AP
Littered ... residents in Chengdu run on a debris-covered road / AP