(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-13 15:41

BEIJING - Rescuers are racing against time to reach survivors a day after the strongest quake to hit China in more than three decades jolted the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The country was in mourning as the death toll spiraled toward 10,000. The national English-language newspaper, China Daily, silhouetted the front page in black to mourn the victims.

The headline reads: "The Day the Earth Moved."

Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Sichuan on Monday evening, urged the public to have "composure, confidence and courage" in the face of the catastrophe.

As of 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake had climbed to 9,219, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Of the dead, 8,993 were in Sichuan.

Wenchuan County, the epicenter, has reported 57 confirmed deaths and about 60,000 residents have yet to be reached.

"I am so worried! I am so worried!" He Biao, a government official with the Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities, Sichuan Province, told  Xinhua over the phone. Wenchuan is part of the prefecture.

Wenchuan and neighboring areas are situated in the steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu. Attempts to reach the epicenter "via land, air and water were all thwarted" by a combination of transport and communications problems and rain, said an official with the Sichuan provincial relief headquarters.

Premier Wen ordered the removal of rocks and mud slides that are blocking roads to the epicenter by midnight on Tuesday. "People are trapped in debris; we must use every second," he told an emergency meeting at 7:00 a.m.

As of 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 16,760 soldiers had joined in the disaster relief efforts. Another 34,000 members of the Jinan and Chengdu military area commands were advancing toward the disaster-stricken regions by plane, train, road -- and even on foot.

The air force has been ordered to parachute relief troops into Wenchuan if rainy weather conditions continue to block helicopter landings.

The General Staff Department (GSD) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) issued the order early on Tuesday in an effort to speed up the deployment of rescuers.

The GSD ordered at 9 a.m. that 10,000 relief troops stationed in the eastern province of Shandong be transported by air instead of rail to Sichuan to save time. Also, civilian aircraft have been mobilized to help with transportation.