Tens of thousands of families across China, eager to show their love, have overwhelmed local civil affairs authorities with telephone calls asking to adopt those orphaned by the worst earthquake since the founding of New China in 1949.

Last week's 8.0-magnitude earthquake centered in Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province left more than 50,000 people dead, almost 30,000 missing, tens of thousands injured and more than 4.8 million homeless.

It also left thousands of children whose parents' whereabouts are unknown. The number of those definitely orphaned is relatively low so far, given the overall toll.

But the number of prospective parents is huge. In the past week, after pouring their love into the quake areas with donations of cash and relief supplies, Chinese people have turned their concern to the orphans.

"Our department had to answer up to 2,000 calls from around the country every day asking to adopt orphans," said Ye Lu, director of the Social Welfare Section of the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department.

"Someone even dialed our hotlines at four o'clock in the morning," he said. "And many came to our office in person every day."

According to Ye, local authorities have identified at least 70 orphans and more than 4,000 homeless children whose parents have yet to be found, and they have been sheltered in welfare institutions in several cities.

"The number is changing every day, with the rise of the death toll or the identification of their parents," Ye said.

The government has told the public it has yet to start looking for new adoptive families, saying that disaster relief remains the top priority.

But that hasn't dissuaded some Chinese, some of whom have "harassed" the civil affairs officials, others of whom have posted messages online expressing ardent hopes to adopt an orphan.

In Beijing alone, more than 3,000 citizens have expressed interest, according to Wu Shimin, director of the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, who said local authorities will offer allowances for families that adopt quake orphans.

"As the capital, Beijing will do the best in this regard," he said.