China's President Hu Jintao has urged rescuers in the southwestern province of Sichuan to race to save lives, days after a destructive earthquake.

Xinhua news agency says many survivors were found on Saturday, five days after the disaster.

The agency says 33 people were dug out of the rubble in Beichuan, one of the worst-hit areas.

China has put the known death toll at over 22,000 but says it expects it to exceed 50,000.

Nearly 5 million people have lost their homes.

The Chinese government has begun sending in teams of undertakers to supervise the grim work of disposing of almost 23-thousand bodies already pulled from the rubble.

Peter Cave reports from Beijing.

"With temperatures forecast to rise to close to 30 degrees in the earthquake area in coming days the huge numbers of decaying corpses pose a threat to the health of five million survivors who have been left homeless. As well as teams of undertakers water purification engineers have become a priority as well. 'The water is the easiest way to transfer the infectious diseases. First thing is to prevent them from the polluted drinking waters.' Dr Chu Yuan from the Chengdu Military hospital in Sichuan."

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