The prevention of endemic diseases and ensuring food and water supply have become urgent issues for the people living in the quake-affected streets and villages in Lushan county, Sichuan province, as search and rescue efforts continued on Sunday.

Temperatures higher than 20 C in Lushan and rainy weather could create conditions for endemic diseases, and prevention has become an urgent issue soldiers involved in the rescue efforts, said Li Shiming, commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command.

On Sunday, Li was coordinating a group of more than 10,000 soldiers and militia reserve troops from the area command in Lushan's Longmen township, the epicenter of the magnitude-7 earthquake.