The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Sichuan has now climbed to more than 9,200.

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Sichuan has now climbed to more than 9,200.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs issued an update early on Tuesday saying the 7.8-magnitude quake has killed 9,219 people in eight affected provinces, including Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi and Yunnan as well as the municipality of Chongqing.

Nearly 9000 of the fatalities were in Sichuan.

The quake also leveled some 500-thousand homes in the affected areas.

The Sichuan provincial seismological bureau says more than 1,180 aftershocks with the strongest measuring 6 on the Richter scale have been recorded as of early Tuesday morning.

In Dujiangyan, many houses collapsed and the city was out of power on Monday night.

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Sichuan has now climbed to more than 9,200.

Initial reports said one third of the houses in the epicenter of Wenchuan County collapsed, and another one third of them were severely damaged.

And there has not been any contact with Maoxian County bordering Wenchuan to the north.

The authorities are continuing to assess casualties and economic losses. Rescuers and disaster relief materials have been dispatched to the affected areas.

(CCTV May 13, 2008)