More than 4.8 million people have been left homeless in China's southwestern Sichuan province by this week's earthquake, a senior local official said on Friday.

A total of 4 807 200 people have been forced into "temporary shelter" in the province, Li Chengyun, the vice governor of Sichuan, told a news conference.

More than 50 000 people are estimated to have died in Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake, China's deadliest natural disaster in a generation.

The structures that have been left standing have seen overflowing crowds of survivors, with some people forced to stay outside for lack of space.

The extent of the homeless problem became known only on Friday, a provincial official said.

"Before today, communications and roads to some cities and counties in the province were cut off because of the quake," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"That's why the number has increased so fast now that links have been restored with the cities and counties," he said.

AFP