Lushan, China: Clogged roads, debris and landslides hindered rescuers Monday as they battled to find survivors of a powerful earthquake in mountainous southwest China that has left at least 188 dead.

Huge boulders blocked rescue vehicles along roads leading to some of the worst-hit areas, and some areas were only accessible by foot along broken passes through the rough terrain.

Survivors including the elderly were carried out on the backs of neighbours as well as by helicopter, as rescuers were also bolstered by thousands of civilian volunteers who rushed to the area to help.

State broadcaster CCTV showed orange-suited emergency workers making desperate dashes past cliff-edges, trying to avoid sudden landslides in a region weakened by more than 2,000 aftershocks.

The 6.6-magnitude quake which hit Sichuan province Saturday has left another 25 missing and more than 11,000 injured, according to state media, while local authorities said some 17,000 families have lost their homes.

Forecasts of rain in the disaster area increased fears of deadly landslides.

“I dare not go anywhere near a mountainside,” a woman named Zhu said as she arrived from the devastated village of Baoxing into the centre of the county of Lushan.

“Many people are worried that the rain will bring more devastation,” she added.

More than 17,000 Chinese soldiers and police have joined the rescue mission and five drones were sent to capture aerial images of the damage, state news agency Xinhua said.

The disaster comes five years after a massive quake in Sichuan which occurred just 200km from Lushan, and was one of the worst to strike China in decades, leaving 90,000 dead or missing.

Pandas living in a reserve near the epicentre of China’s weekend quake clambered up trees in panic as their forest home was jolted, but none were injured, officials said Monday.

More than 60 pandas at the Bifengxia Panda Base near Ya-an city were shaken early Saturday by the quake which struck just 50km away, leaving at least 188 people dead and more than 11,000 injured.

Some pandas climbed high into the tree canopy when the 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck and suffered “differing degrees of shock,” the facility said on its website.

Pictures taken by the reserve showed the furry creatures clinging onto tree trunks, while state-broadcaster CCTV showed one panda perched perilously on the top of a tall pine tree, which swayed from side to side.

Ren Yao from Bifengxia’s publicity office said that “no pandas or people were injured” in the weekend quake. However, some sections of the facility were damaged, she said without elaborating.

Animals at the base were “slack jawed” with shock after the quake struck, China’s official news-agency Xinhua reported.

But staff said that after therapy from staff, the pandas were now feeling secure enough to climb back down to earth.