Officials have said that a tornado along with hailstorms and rains pounded Chongqing, a municipality in southwestern China, Thursday, leaving scores dead and injured.

At least 23 people had been confirmed dead and another 161 injured, the official Xinhua news agency, quoting local government officials, said.

The report also said that Dianjiang and Liangping counties in the municipality took the brunt of the storms that hit before dawn. The tornado struck Liangping County, killing six of the 23 people. Several homes and structures were destroyed in the region, which also suffered crop damage.

Xinhua further reported that relief and emergency work was under way.

Last month a powerful earthquake struck China's Yushu County in northwest Qinghai province, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring more than 12,000 people. Another 70 were reported missing.

It was also reported by Xinhua on Thursday that the major challenge facing authorities now is protecting the 200,000 survivors in the mountainous province from secondary disasters including aftershocks, epidemics like the plague, landslides and floods. Most of the inhabitants are Tibetans.

The province has received heavy rains since the earthquake, raising the risk of landslides.

A provincial official said, "It's still an arduous task to prevent and guard against secondary disasters."

It was further reported that the hardest hit by the quake was Jiegu city in Yushu County where most of the homes and structures collapsed and thousands of survivors continue to live in tents. The city is located at the intersection of two rivers, and authorities are concerned about flash flooding in the coming rainy season. (With Inputs from Agencies)