China's earthquake watchdog has told its staff to continue rescue operations in quake-hit areas and release disaster information in a timely manner.

The China Earthquake Administration (CEA) held its third emergency meeting on Sunday responding to the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Ya'an City, in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday.

Latest figures show that more than 200 people are dead or missing, and more than 6,700 injured.

The CEA promised to handle disaster relief work well and conduct damage evaluation and quake forecasting, and publish relevant information concerning the disaster in a timely manner.

A total of 1,339 aftershocks had been monitored in the epicenter of Lushan County as of noon Beijing time Sunday, the CEA said. Three of the aftershocks were measured within a range of 5.0 to 5.9 magnitude.

The CEA will be publishing a record of the number of aftershocks.

Fifteen seismologists from the CEA and other experts from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development have been sent to assess the damage caused by the quake, the CEA said.

A national earthquake emergency rescue team has also arrived at Lushan County to carry out disaster relief work, it said.

The team is made up of 200 rescuers, including 39 medical staff, according to the CEA. They have taken more than 30 tonnes of supplies to the quake area.

Meanwhile, more than 800 police and rescue staff have entered badly-hit Baoxing County, where communication and transportation have been seriously affected.

Lushan is about 200 kilometers from the epicenter of the massive Wenchuan earthquake, which happened five years ago and left 87,000 dead or missing.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2013)