Strong aftershock, Frog march & 71000 Death toll

Powerful aftershock rattled China's southwest early Sunday, hampering frantic efforts to find earthquake survivors and help nearly five million people facing the risk of disease and flood. China has suffered more than thousands aftershocks with 20 of magnitude 5.0 or above on the Richter scale since last Monday's initial 7.9 magnitude quake.

Thousands of Chinese fled for cover in fear of an earthquake Tuesday, alarmed not only by warnings from seismologists but also by an unusual mass movement of frogs. For the second time this month, residents observed a huge migration of frogs and toads.

Internet blogs showed footage of toads covering the streets of Mianyang in the days before the town in Sichuan province was ravaged by the earthquake. Many people, at least in retrospect, took the toads as an omen of disaster. Local forestry officials had said the toads' movement was simply because it was mating season, although their explanations were attacked on China's lively Internet discussion boards.

Superstitious Chinese have looked for cosmic explanations for the earthquake, the country's deadliest natural disaster in three decades. Many noted that the earthquake occurred exactly 88 days before the Beijing Olympics, which opens on August 8 -- 8/8/8 -- at 8:08 pm, in line with Chinese numerology which considers eight a lucky number.

Speculation was heightened on Sunday when China's seismological authority revised up the magnitude of the May 12 earthquake to 8.0 on the Richter scale.

More than 71,000 people are dead, buried or missing in China's southwest
Sichuan province following last week's earthquake. The number of people confirmed killed in the province as of late Sunday is 32,173. Another 9,509 people remained buried and 29,418 others were missing.