Manila - The Philippines will dispatch a medical team to China to help victims of the powerful earthquake that killed more than 9,000 people, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesman, said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the country's National Disaster Coordinating Council to organize the medical team.

"Every time we have disasters in the country, it only takes hours before China sends their support to us," he said. "This is one way to reciprocate their generosity and kindness to the Filipino people."

Golez said the medical team, to be composed of at least 12 doctors, psychiatrists and sanitary engineers, will leave as soon as possible.

The earthquake struck Monday in Wenchuan, 95 kilometres west-north-west of Chengdu, and could be felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

It was the deadliest earthquake in China since 1976, when an estimated 243,000 people died in the northern city of Tangshan, near Beijing. (dpa)