China earthquake death toll tops 12,000: state media

In Sichuan province, where the 7.9-magnitude quake struck on Monday, more than 12,000 people were killed and at least 9,400 other buried, Xinhua said, citing the provinces vice governor.

However, highlighting the confusion over trying to determine the exact toll of the disaster, Xinhua also quoted officials from just one city in Sichuan as saying 3,629 people had been killed and another 18,645 people buried there.

That city, Mianyang, may not have been the worst hit. Mianyang neighbours Wenchuan county, a mountainous region of over 100,000 people that was the site of the epicentre of the quake.

Few reports have emerged out of Wenchuan, which remains largely cut off from rescuers due to the destruction of roads.

According to the Sichuan vice governor, Li Chengyun, 7,395 people had died in Mianyang, 2,648 were killed in nearby Deyang city and 959 fatalities were recorded in the provincial capital, Chengdu.

Troops and rescue teams struggled by air, land and water to reach areas of southwestern China stricken by the huge quake that demolished schools, homes and factories, AFP reported.

"The situation is worse than we previously estimated," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said at disaster relief headquarters in Dujiangyan, a city close to the epicentre. "At present, we have great difficulties carrying out our rescue work," he told a crisis meeting of aid workers, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

10,000 people remained buried in the Mianzhu area of Sichuan province, Xinhua earlier said. Mianzhu is 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the quakes epicenter of Wenchuan. The Xinhua report did not make clear if some of those buried were included in the overall death toll.

The initial tremor, which the U.S. Geological Survey upgraded to magnitude 7.9 from 7.8, was followed by a series of aftershocks, which shook the area through the night. A strong aftershock on Tuesday, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, shook Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, at around 3:10 pm (0710 GMT), the Xinhua news agency said.

In the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan -- about midway between Chengdu and the epicentre -- there were scenes of devastation, with buildings reduced to rubble and bodies in the streets, some only partially covered.

A group of about 15 British tourists were out of reach near the quake's epicenter, likely in Wolong, an area famous for its Giant Panda research centre, Xinnhua reported. Sixty pandas at a reserve near Chengdu were safe, it said.

"TIME IS LIFE"
China's benchmark stock index traded down after the quake, which forced suspension of trading in the shares of 66 companies.

China's Communist Party leadership announced that coping with the devastating quake and ensuring that it did not threaten social stability were now the government's priorities.

"Time is life," said an official announcement from the Communist Party Standing Committee. "Make fighting the earthquake and rescue work the current top task."

The Sichuan quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan tremor in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died. Then, unlike now, the Communist Party kept a tight lid on information about the extent of the disaster.

Neighboring areas were also affected, with 150 reported dead in Longnan city of the northwestern province of Gansu and school collapses in the municipality of Chongqing.

In Gansu, the quake caused a train to derail, spilling petrol tanks and sparking a fire, Xinhua reported.

In Sichuan's Shifang, where the quake sparked a major chemical leak, about 600 people died and as many as 2,300 remained buried, Xinhua said. Two chemical plants collapsed, causing more than 80 tons of liquid ammonia to leak out.

In Chengdu, many residents slept outside or in cars as aftershocks were felt through the night in a city where at least 45 people died and 600 were injured. Local radio broadcast appeals for people to leave their cars at home to make way for emergency vehicles.

"At this time of disaster, we are one family," local radio said. "We are confident that under the leadership of the Party, families can be reunited and we can leave this nightmare."

Wenchuan officials described crumpled homes, landslides and scenes of desperation. Xinhua said some half a million houses in the area had collapsed. A paramilitary officer marching with a hundred troops towards Wenchuan described a devastated landscape.

Photo: AFP