BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Daily images taken by five British-made satellites were being used to help guide China's quake rescue and relief efforts, the British Embassy said here Friday.

    The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) -- a consortium of five satellites built by British firm Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) -- has been used to monitor sites of potential secondary disasters, such as landslides and the new lakes formed by river blockages.

    The first image from the Beijing-1 satellite of the DMC was obtained within 7 hours after the devastating May 12 earthquake, said the embassy.

    Image data received from the DMC was being processed by Beijing Landview Mapping Information Technology Ltd. (BLMIT) and the data had helped the company to map out a disaster territory of more than 2 million sq km.

    The Beijng-1 satellite owned by China was launched in 2005.

    "The Beijing-1 satellite has fully demonstrated its imaging advantages in the earthquake relief and has made a significant contribution to the humanitarian campaign," the embassy said.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake