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

The country was immersed in immense grief as the death toll rose to nearly 10,000. China's English-language newspaper China Daily silhouetted the front page in black to mourn the victims. The headline reads: "The Day the Earth Moved."

A pain-stricken nation has been mobilized. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Sichuan Monday evening, urged "calm, confidence and courage" in face of the catastrophe.

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

Wenchuan County, the epicenter, has reported 57 confirmed deaths, and about 60,000 locals were still out of reach.

"I am so worried! I am so worried!" He Biao, a government official with the Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba, Sichuan Province, exclaimed to Xinhua over phone in an anxious tone. Wenchuan is part of the prefecture.

Wenchuan and neighboring areas were set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu. Attempts to reach the epicenter "via land, air and water were all thwarted", said an official with the Sichuan provincial relief headquarters, citing blocked transport, disrupted telecom and rainy weather as the key factors to hold back efforts to access the epicenter.

Premier Wen has ordered the removal of the rocks and mud slides that blocked the roads to the epicenter before 12:00 p.m. Tuesday.

"People are trapped in debris, we must treasure every second," he told an emergency meeting at 7:00 a.m.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)