More than 80,000 people are estimated dead or missing 10 days after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan province in central China, the government said Thursday, as fears rose that disease, rainy weather and aftershocks could stir more problems.

China raised the confirmed death toll from last week's earthquake in the Sichuan province to more than 40,000 Tuesday, with another 30,000 people still missing, as officials grappled to find shelter for some of the 5 million people displaced.

More than 200 workers repairing quake-shattered roads in China's Sichuan province were buried over the past three days by mudslides, state media reported Monday as millions of Chinese people paused to mark the first week since the deadly quake.