BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that a devastating earthquake in southwest China destroyed or heavily damaged 436,000 properties leading to 4.8 million homeless, according to official figures.
Soldiers transport aid and supplies to earthquake survivors at the Zipingpu Dam in Wudu Friday.
At a news conference in the U.S. capital, Wang Baodong said the disaster had led to 500 deaths outside Sichuan province, the hardest-hit area. The official death toll now stands at 22,000, with 14,000 still buried.
A German has been confirmed as among those killed by Monday's quake, said Baodong. Another German provided good news on Saturday. A German tourist was rescued after being buried for 114 hours in Wenchuan, the quake epicenter, Xinhua reported.
The suffering of Sichuan's inhabitants has been prolonged by repeated aftershocks, some 4,400 since the quake hit, according to Baodong.
The latest aftershock hit quake-damaged areas Friday, triggering landslides, blocking roads, knocking out phone lines and burying vehicles, state-run media reported.
The 5.5-magnitude earthquake rattled Sichuan shortly after President Hu Jintao arrived in the quake zone to get a first-hand look at the devastated region.
Baodong said that rescuers now have reached all 58 counties and towns in southwest China that were stricken by Monday's earthquake.
Quoting from a statement by the president, he said, "Saving lives is still the top priority," and the nation has to make more efforts to treat the injured.
Hu described the current situation as "the most crucial phase" of the rescue effort. "We must race against time to overcome all difficulties."
The original magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit Sichuan Province the hardest, shattering communities, leveling dozens of schools and burying transportation routes with landslides.
As frantic search-and-rescue efforts entered a fifth day, the official death toll issued by authorities in Sichuan province now stood at 22,069, with 14,000 still buried, 159,000 injured and 4.8 million homeless, according to China's Xinhua state news agency. China's state council said Thursday that the number of dead could eventually top 50,000.
Yet hope still emerged from amid the horror of the nation's worst disaster in recent years, with survivors pulled from the rubble four days after being buried in the rubble.
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Rescuers pulled a student from the debris of Beichuan Middle School, 80 hours after the quake collapsed the building, Xinhua reported. 
Two more people were saved after being buried for 95 hours, the agency added.
Rescuers said they could hear a weak yell for help from under the building's rubble and are "expecting more miracles," according to state-run media.
Hu flew to Mianyang in the hard-hit Sichuan province, which has become a massive refugee camp for survivors, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
"The challenge is still daunting, the task is still arduous and the time pressing," Hu said.
Thousands of people who were uprooted around the region have taken shelter at the city's main sports gym and other facilities. Reports say 7,395 people have died and 18,645 are trapped in debris in the city.
Xinhua reported 135,000 Chinese troops and medics are involved in the rescue effort across 58 counties and cities.
The scope of the operation is such that Beijing has allocated until now nearly $5 billion for the rescue relief fund.
Search-and-rescue help is also coming from outside the country. A team from Japan entered Sichuan province early Friday, Xinhua reported. Rescuers from Russia, South Korea and Singapore were expected to arrive soon.
This weekend, the United States will send into China two U.S. Air Force C-17's carrying supplies, which include tents and generators. The U.S. offer of assistance is open-ended and the flights could be followed by others, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Friday.
Earlier, the United States pledged $500,000 to help China in its quake relief efforts and that money has been delivered by the U.S. Red Cross.
Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Vietnam and Poland were among the countries providing humanitarian assistance, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile Louis Michel, Development Aid Commissioner to the EU, has said it will give initial emergency aid of $3.1 million to cover supplies including food and blankets, The Associated Press has reported, to demonstrate solidarity with China.
Attention is now also switching to preventing the possible spread of disease, with 60 funeral workers being sent to Sichuan province to cremate thousands of bodies, according to Xinhua.
Housing Minister Jiang Weixin has warned that water is not now flowing in at least 20 counties and cities in Sichaun, AP reported, making the supply situation "extremely serious."
Leading the country's disaster response, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praised the country for its "efficiency and order" in the midst of the disaster.
"Saving lives is still our top priority, as long as hope of survival still exists," Wen said, according to Xinhua.
He added that it was more powerful than Tangshan earthquake in northern Hebei Province, which killed an estimated 240,000 people, the agency reported.
Hope is now running out for many trapped under tons of debris. The scene was especially painful in Beichuan, where parents of middle-school students waited Thursday, hoping recovery teams would pull their children alive from the rubble of a middle school.
They found little hope as search teams pulled out one lifeless body after another.
"There are teenagers wearing jeans and gym shoes and their bodies are twisted," CNN's John Vause said, reporting from just outside the school. "The expression on one girl's face was just pain -- she was dead."
A few roads to Wenchuan county -- the epicenter of the quake -- started to open Thursday, allowing military trucks to begin their haul to affected sites, while rescuers continued attempts to save those trapped beneath the rubble at schools, businesses and homes.
Late in the day, a quake-damaged road from Lixian county into Wenchuan opened after around-the-clock repairs were completed, according to Xinhua.
Rescuers have been struggling to reach the worst-hit quake areas, battling landslides, buckled roads, collapsed bridges and inclement weather.
More than 4.3 million homes collapsed or sustained damage because of the quake, according to the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
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