At least 48 people were killed in northwest China's Gansu Province after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the neighboring Sichuan Province on Monday, local authorities said.

Meanwhile, 16 other people were injured severely and more than 20,000 people were evacuated, according to the Gansu Provincial Department of Civil Affairs.

The powerful earthquake rocked Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province at 2:28 PM Monday and more than 7,000 people are feared dead in the province.

The tremor was also strongly felt in many other parts of the country, leading to building collapses, cutoff of water and power supplies, and chaos of transport and communications.

"Stampede accidents have been reported in some schools in Longnan," said Zhang Lixin, a press official of Longnan City of Gansu. He did not provide details about the casualties.

"Classes in those schools have been suspended," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)