Some villages close to the epicentre in Lushan and Baoxing counties were left in ruins.
Rescuers hiked into neighboring Baoxing county after its roads were cut off, reaching it overnight, state media reported.
On Sunday the state-run China News Agency said a middle school in the nearby town of Baoxing had been heavily damaged.
Xinhua also said that more than 870 firefighters have been sent to Baoxing with light rescue equipment and 11 sniffer dogs.
Xinhua also said that more than 870 firemen have been sent to Baoxing with light rescue equipment and 11 sniffer dogs.
Xinhua reported that an excavator fell off a 300-meter cliff on the way to Baoxing on Sunday morning, but the number of casualties from that accident were still unknown.
"I dare not go anywhere near a mountainside, " a woman named Zhu was quoted by Agence-France Presse news agency, in the village of Baoxing, centre of Lushan county, as saying.
One of the hardest hit areas was Baoxing county, where almost all buildings had collapsed, including many that were built after the 2008 earthquake, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Rescue teams had already reached the remote villages in mountainous Baoxing County on foot, but landslides were blocking access to aid trucks and preventing some of the casualties from being brought out.
It said the death toll in Baoxing alone was 26, with about 2, 500 injured, but rescuers were still trying to reach the area on foot to distribute tents and other basic supplies.
China Youth Daily says the country must learn from Japan's earthquake-resistant building designs after almost all the buildings in Baoxing county in Ya'an, including newer earthquake-proof houses, were badly damaged in the quake.
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