In the neighbouring provinces, 61 people were killed in Shaanxi, 48 in Gansu, 50 in Chongqing, one in Yunnan and one in Henan, the national headquarters for disaster relief said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived near the quake centre, described the quake as a 'major disaster' and called for calm and courage.
A spokesman with China Seismological Bureau said the intense quake was felt in at least 16 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tibet.
The shocks -- that were felt even in Thai capital of Bangkok, 1,800 km from the epicentre -- levelled buildings, cut transport and electricity supplies in the affected areas in China.
The massive earthquake also damaged two chemical plants burying thousands of people and forcing the evacuation of more than 6,000 people nearby, Xinhua reported.
The factories were in Shifeng, about 50 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake in Sichuan province, it said, quoting an official from the state administration.
Image: Rescuers try to get a boy (wearing a helmet for protection) out from the rubble of the collapsed Juyuan middle school in Dujiangyan, where six children died.
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