Most of the victims were crushed by collapsing buildings or falling rocks, officials said.

"Some were crushed inside their homes, others were killed by rocks falling from the mountains," a Yanjin county earthquake administration official told AFP by telephone.

Xinhua said the damage was spread across 13 townships, with residents evacuating from the worst-hit area of Dousha.

Yanjin's 350,000 residents are especially vulnerable to earthquakes as most live near hillsides, the agency said.

Local authorities sent money, 500 tents, 1,000 quilts and 500 blankets to the affected areas while several hundred workers had joined the rescue effort.

Power supply and communications had largely been restored by Saturday evening, Xinhua said.

The agency reported earlier that a team from the State Seismological Administration had left Beijing to help in assessing the damage and "maintaining social order".

"The heatwave is going to last," said France's Health Minister Xavier Bertrand Saturday, stressing that the priority was to watch out for people living in isolated circumstances who are particularly vulnerable to the heat.

Though temperatures dropped in parts of northern France, weather authorities said the respite would be short, warning of a further peak on Wednesday.

Those who died in France this week included 10 people aged 80 to 94, as well as labourers at work and a 15-month-old baby.

National radio broadcast messages to the elderly on Saturday, explaining the effects of the heat and how to combat them and giving a telephone advice-line number.

French forecasters have placed the eastern half of the country on "orange" alert -- the second highest level. Temperatures were expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Rhone valley, though cooler weather was forecast for Sunday.

Violent storms struck the Dordogne region of south-central France overnight, killing a motorcyclist who ran into a fallen tree. Scores of firemen were mobilised and lightning caused half a dozen forest fires.

Air quality authorities in northeastern France said levels of pollutant ozone chemicals in the air had exceeded recommended levels for four days running in the heatwave, though the levels returned to normal later Saturday.

More than 30 people are believed to have died since the start of the week in western Europe.

Spain is used to such temperatures, but six provinces of the country were nevertheless on alert this weekend after three heat-related deaths, as the thermometer was expected to nudge 40 degrees Celsius.

A German truck driver in Austria died in his cabin of a heart attack brought on by the high temperature which reached 37 degrees Celsius in parts of the country, rescuers said.

Austrians have this summer experienced a soaring number of restless tropical nights, defined as nights when the temperature passes 20 degrees Celsius, meteorological officials said.

Hungarian authorities distributed water in busy parts of the capital Budapest to prevent dehydration and trains across the country were ordered to lower their speed owing to problems with the tracks caused by heat.

In Britain forecasters warned that the present relief, welcome after Wednesday -- which saw the hottest July day on record -- was likely to be followed by another heatwave next week.

"We will have another heatwave similar to this week," said forecaster Steve Randall from the Meteorological Office. "The weekend will be cooler with a risk of thunderstorms -- but temperatures will still be above average for the time of year."

In Italy temperatures were set to reach 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend, and the regions of Liguria in the northeast and Umbria in the centre were placed on the highest level of alert.

In Berlin the building union IG Bau launched a publicity campaign under the slogan "Don't Get Burned", and distributed tubes of sunscreen cream at work-sites.

The heat eased meanwhile in Belgium, where 15,000 people packed into trains to the seaside on Saturday morning, despite rainstorms in parts of the country.

In Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu island, two men aged 45 and 57, along with a 65-year-old woman, were killed by mudslides, a local police officer said Sunday, adding that another person was still listed as missing.

"The rain is not as heavy as before for now, but police and rescuers are ready should more mudslides occur," he said, noting the national weather agency was forecasting more rainfall overnight and into Monday morning.

The heavy rain, caused by a seasonal front, has washed out the country's southwest, with Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures recording 1.2 meters (four feet) of rain since the storms began last week, the agency said.

The magnitude 6.1 quake struck 67 miles south of Gorontalo in northern Sulawesi, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt across parts of Sulawesi, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

Fauzi, an official at Indonesia's geological agency, said officials there gave the quake an initial strength of 6.6. Different agencies often give different magnitudes for quakes and revise the figure later after analyzing more seismographical data.

Like many Indonesians, Fauzi uses a single name.

Sgt. Daule, a police officer in the coastal town of Luwuk, said hundreds of people there fled to higher ground after the quake struck, shouting "Beware tsunami! Beware tsunami!"

Just over 1 1/2 hours later, Fauzi said that no tsunami had occurred.

"We are sending a message to the people to go home because the situation is now safe," he said.

Sulawesi is 1,200 miles northeast of the capital, Jakarta.

Last Monday's tsunami was triggered by a 7.7 magnitude quake off Java's southern coast. It pummeled a nearly 200-mile stretch of coastline, killing at least 668 people.

Indonesia is on Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin, and is rocked by earthquakes on a near daily basis.

There were no reports of casualties or damage, according to the meteorology office.

"We have informed local officials to warn people in the areas that the earthquake is likely to cause a tsunami in the area," Fauzi was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"A tsunami hasn't taken place but people have been evacuated to higher ground."

Sunday's earthquake comes less than a week after another powerful undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami on the south coast of Java island, killing more than 600 people.

Gorontalo Governor Fadel Muhammad told El Shinta radio he had ordered an evacuation of coastal areas after the strong earthquake rattled the northern half of the island at 3:22 p.m.

A Gorontalo resident, Ferry Majoa, told The Jakarta Post by phone that the earthquake struck twice, at 4:22 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.

"The quake has made residents, especially in Bone Bolango area, panic and start to move to higher ground."

He said many residents had left town two days ago, when they learned their areas were listed among high-risk tsunami areas.

"Hopefully, the tsunami warning won't amount to anything," Ferry said.

Indonesia, which sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire", where continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity, was the nation worst hit by the December 2004 Asian tsunami.