THE death toll from a powerful earthquake in China's western Gansu province now stands at 54 people, the municipal government said, with hundreds injured as many homes in affected areas collapsed.

The 6.6 magnitude quake hit Minxian and Zhangxian counties, about 170 km (105 miles) south-east of the provincial capital of Lanzhou.

Nearly 300 people were seriously injured.

Eight towns in the remote, mountainous area sustained serious damage in the quake.

The Red Cross Society of China said it had sent relief supplies to the affected areas, including jackets and tents. Photos posted on Chinese social media showed roads on the sides of riverbanks that had subsided and farmhouses reduced to piles of red bricks.

A school building in Minxian county was also damaged, a teacher in the area said, although he said he didn't believe any students were injured because they were away on summer holidays.

Heavy rain is also forecast for the areas hit by the quake, which officials fear would compound the damage by causing more landslides and flooding.

A second 5.6 earthquake struck the same region about 90 minutes after the first, the most significant of several aftershocks.

In nearby Sichuan province, a 6.6 magnitude quake in April killed 164 people and injured more than 6700, China's worst quake in three years. That quake hit close to where a devastating 7.9 temblor killed some 70,000 people in May 2008.

Among those killed in the 2008 quake were thousands of children, raising suspicions that the schools that had collapsed on them had been poorly constructed, in part due to corruption.