The death toll in northwest China's Gansu Province from Monday's earthquake has risen to 189, the provincial civil affair department said on Tuesday morning.

Longnan City, about 240 km northeast of the epicenter Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, with 159 deaths, was the worst hit area in Gansu.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the earthquake has killed 189 people, injured 877 including 210 seriously and forced the evacuation of 32,000 people. It also toppled down 4,200 houses and 510 cave dwellings, an endemic residence in northwest China, and damaged 6,700 houses.

Telecommunication was cut off in some earthquake-hit areas.

The Gansu provincial government has sent more than 4,000 tents to affected areas.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)