BEIJING, China (CNN) -- At least five people were killed and 100 hurt when two primary school buildings and a water tower collapsed after an earthquake capable of causing major damage shook central China on Monday.

The quake registered a magnitude of 7.8, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Four students died and many were wounded when the schools collapsed in the Chongqing municipality, about 215 miles (345 kilometers) southeast of the epicenter, according to China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s official news agency Xinhua.

Another person was killed when a water tower fell in the city of Mianyang, Xinhua reported.

The Three Gorges Dam in Wenchuan -- near Chongqing -- was not damaged, a spokesman there said.

Five more earthquakes -- measuring between 4.0 and 6.0 magnitudes -- happened nearby over the two hours, the USGS reported.

Chinese President Hu Jintao immediately ordered an all-out effort to help victims of the earthquakes, Xinhua reported.

It said Premier Wen Jiabao would go there to direct the rescue work.

China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s state-run CCTV reported no serious damage in Chengdu, a city of more than 10 million that is about 60 miles from the epicenter, in the eastern part of China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Sichuan province.

Bonnie Thie, the country director of the Peace Corps, was on a university campus in Chengdu when the first quake hit.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You could see the ground shaking,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Thie said.

The shaking \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"went on for what seemed like a very long time,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she said.

Plaster fell from some walls, she said, but she saw no fallen bricks or broken windows.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This is a very dangerous earthquake,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake has the potential to cause major damage because of its strength and proximity to major population centers, he said. In addition, the earthquake was relatively shallow, Presgrave said, and those kinds of quakes tend to do more damage near the epicenter than deeper ones.

An earthquake with 7.5 magnitude in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan killed 255,000 people in 1976 -- the greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last four centuries and the second greatest in recorded history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Tangshan is roughly 995 miles (1,600 km) from Chengdu, the nearest major city to the epicenter of Monday\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s quake.

On Monday, the ground shook as far away as Beijing, which is 950 miles (1,528 km) from the epicenter. They felt \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"a very quiet rolling sensation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" that lasted for about a minute, according to CNN correspondent John Vause.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Our building began to sway,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

Thousands of people were evacuated from Beijing high-rises immediately after the earthquake.

A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee said no Olympic venues were affected by the earthquake.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"They were all constructed according to government-mandated specifications, including ability to sustain major earthquakes like this one,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Zhu Jing, the spokesman.

The first earthquake happened at 2:28 p.m. local time (0728 GMT, 0228 ET), the USGS said.

The earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and as far away as Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand, according to the Hong Kong-based Mandarin-language channel Phoenix TV.