MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Chinese authorities are evacuating some 110,000 people from the Sichuan province, hit by a powerful earthquake in May, as aftershocks and floods continue to threaten the area, national media reported on Wednesday.

The death toll from the May 12 earthquake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale and the biggest to hit China in three decades, is nearing 70,000, with 17,000 people still missing.

"We are forced to begin the evacuation of over 110,000 inhabitants of Sichuan due to the serious threat of aftershocks and major floods," a spokesman for the local authorities was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.