Flood fears rising in China quake zone as heavy rains loom

The death toll in this month's massive earthquake in China rose to 55,740 Friday, as fears grew about possible flooding from dozens of lakes formed by landslides in the mountains above badly affected cities.

Officials in Beijing said nearly 25,000 people were confirmed as missing and close to 300,000 injured, but the number of victims was sure to go up as soldiers and rescue workers still hadn't reached the most remote mountainous areas in the quake zone.

Xinhua news agency said 34 new lakes created when mudslides blocked rivers are rapidly growing in size and threatening to burst their banks.

Heavy monsoon rains could start falling in the central province of Sichuan soon, adding to fears of flooding and water contamination.

Xinhua said one of the lakes formed after the quake just three kilometres from devastated Beichuan town had doubled in size over the past four days, and others held more than three million cubic metres of water.

The agency said officials were monitoring lake levels and discussing ways of avoiding a catastrophic flood.

Tens of thousands of relief teams are deployed across central areas of Sichuan with the emphasis now on providing shelter and clean drinking water, and avoiding outbreaks of disease and infections.

Medical teams from China's Peoples' Liberation Army, as well as civilian doctors and nurses, have set up trauma camps, often in makeshift housing and under canvas.

Officials in Beijing and Sichuan appealed Thursday for international help in gathering more than three million tents to shelter both homeless victims and relief workers.

It's estimated that more than five million buildings have collapsed and nearly 5.5 million people are homeless.

On Friday, Premier Wen Jiabao paid his second visit to the region, visiting the temporary site of Beichuan Middle School where more than 1,000 students and teachers were killed in the May 7 quake.

"Today when we see the children, we see the hope of the quake areas and the hope of the whole nation," Wen is quoted as saying by the BBC.

Chinese websites have been raising concerns about the large number of schools that collapsed in the quake, and banners have appeared blaming student deaths on human error.