China made an urgent global appeal Thursday for millions of tents to shelter destitute survivors of its worst earthquake in a generation, as the confirmed death toll shot up past 50 000.

Ten days after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, China was focusing on staving off disease in its overflowing tent cities of homeless as it tried to lift their spirits with plans to bring the Olympic flame through the disaster zone.

The grim task of counting the dead picked up steam, with the government putting the death toll at 51 151, a jump of nearly 10 000 from a day before. The final toll could still be much higher, with 29 328 still missing.

More help arrive

As more foreign medical teams arrived on the scene in southwest China's mountainous Sichuan province, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the country needed 3.3 million tents or other portable shelters.

"We hope the international community will prioritise tents in providing assistance to China," Qin told a press briefing in Beijing. Only some 150 000 have been received so far.

The government has pledged more than $13-billion for relief and reconstruction for the victims of the 12 May quake, which caused destruction in an area three times the size of Belgium.

The housing ministry Thursday ordered the construction of one million small homes by 10 August made of light steel, plywood and other materials that are both safe in earthquakes and "recyclable." The houses are supposed to last up to five years.

Over 5m crammed into tents

But for now, most of the 5.2 million people displaced by the quake are crammed into tents or under simple tarpaulins, where they face the threats of disease as well as simple boredom as they try to deal with their trauma.

Li Qiang, a senior health official for Sichuan's ravaged Shifang district, said that the decomposing corpses of millions of animals and people were adding to the health worries at the camps.

"And our public health services are no longer working. A big number of buildings are in ruins, computers are smashed and there's no electricity. So our alert system for epidemics is paralysed," Li told AFP.

The UN's World Health Organisation also identified preventing disease as the top concern, as it announced it was sending extra medical and hygiene supplies capable of treating 130 000 people.

"The longer-term challenge is how to best rebuild its damaged health infrastructure," WHO official Eric Laroche said.

Bid to restore semblance of normality

At a sports stadium in quake-hit Mianyang where thousands of homeless are living, more than 1000 children attended classes in hastily erected tents, reflecting government efforts to restore some semblance of normality.

"Many of the children don't know each other but that's OK. Kids of that age make friends really fast," said geography teacher Chen Qian (27), as the children stood up to sing the national anthem together.

The health ministry said it had started sending thousands of the most seriously injured people by trains and planes to other parts of China from the overwhelmed hospitals in Sichuan.

Authorities also sent out the first team specialised in treating disabilities, which are expected to afflict many of the 288 431 injured people.

In a bid to cheer up survivors, organisers announced that they would bring the Beijing Olympic torch through Sichuan from 3 to 5 August, making it the final stop before the Games open on 8 August.

It had been scheduled to go to the province earlier but the route was changed "to support the relief works in the quake-hit area," the Beijing Games organising committee said in a statement on its website.

The announcement came as the torch relay resumed in the eastern port city of Ningbo following a three-day suspension that was called as part of an unprecedented national mourning period for the quake victims.

Torch relay welcomed

The torch relay has been greeted by enthusiastic crowds throughout China, after a troubled international leg that was a lightning rod for protests over China's human rights record including its controversial rule in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, praised China's transparency about the earthquake, saying it showed the communist country was "becoming more open."

"It is a wonderful, an encouraging sign," he told BBC radio during a visit to London.

China faced some criticism for waiting three days before allowing in rescue teams.

But medics from countries including Italy, Japan and Russia are now working on the ground, with a German mobile hospital as well as US and WHO experts due.

AFP