The aid workers, engineers and doctors from Project Dengke are caught in the wake of the massive earthquake which hit the Sichuan province in south-western China on Monday.

Charity leader Professor Mel Richardson from the University of Portsmouth has been getting e-mails from his team in the province's capital Chengdu – only 57 miles away from the epicentre of the earthquake which has killed at least 12,000 people.

No-one from the five-strong team was hurt, although the situation in the city is becoming increasingly difficult.

Prof Richardson, of Alverstoke, Gosport, said: 'There have been several aftershocks. They've had to rush out of shaking buildings because everything seemed like it was going to collapse.

'But the main problem is clean water. Chengdu is a modern city and they've completely sold out of bottled water. It's been a very worrying 24 hours but at least some communication has been established and some calls are getting through.'

Project Dengke has been providing mercy missions to the small Chinese town of Dengke since 1992 after Prof Richardson led a hovercraft expedition to the area hidden away on the Tibetan Plateau 800 miles west of Chengdu.

He's taken engineering students there to build bridges, water wells and pipes, homes and an orphanage.

The manufacturing expert said the residents of Dengke felt the earthquake. It also caused landslides on many of the mountain roads leading to the isolated town.

The charity team were due to be in Dengke from March but the Chinese government have stopped all foreigners from going there because of the ongoing unrest in Tibet.

He said: 'It's probably a good thing the team weren't in Dengke as they would be marooned.

The worry for the people of Dengke is that they're isolated and they rely on supplies coming through. Supplies will dwindle.'