By Ben Blanchard
DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - Heavy rainfall and wreckedroads hampered efforts to reach areas hardest-hit by China'sworst earthquake in three decades on Tuesday as the death tollrose to nearly 10,000.
State media reports indicated that the number of dead waslikely to soar, with Xinhua news agency saying 10,000 peopleremained buried in the Mianzhu area of Sichuan province andthat rescue troops had arrived for the first time at Wenchuancounty, the epicentre of the quake.
Xinhua did not make clear if some of those buried wereincluded in the overall death toll.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to Sichuan, ordered troopsto clear roads to Wenchuan, a hilly area about 100 km (62miles) from the provincial capital Chengdu.
Damage from Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake left the areacompletely cut off.
But rain and thick clouds meant that military helicoptersdispatched to the area could not yet land, and if the weatherremained overcast soldiers mobilised to help with rescue workwould try to parachute in.
State television showed highways buckled and caved in fromthe quake and massive rockslides lining the roads.
In the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan -- about midway betweenChengdu and the epicentre -- there were scenes of devastation,with buildings reduced to rubble and bodies in the streets,some only partially covered.
Troops and ambulances thronged the streets, and militarytrucks able to do heavy lifting had arrived. But many residentssimply stood beside their wrecked homes, cradling possessionsin their arms, and many huddled in relief tents under heavyrain.
"At least 60 or 70 old people lived there, as well aschildren," said a hospital worker surnamed Huo, gesturing to abuilding in ruins. Mattresses and household objects could beseen poking through the rubble.
"How could they survive that?" she asked.
Rescuers had worked frantically through the night, pullingbodies from homes, schools, factories and hospitals demolishedby the quake, which rolled from Sichuan across much of China.
In the same city, about 900 teenagers were buried under acollapsed three-storey school building. Premier Wen bowed threetimes in grief before some of the first 50 bodies pulled out,Xinhua reported.
"Not one minute can be wasted," said Wen, a trainedgeologist. "One minute, one second could mean a child's life."
Frantic relatives tried to push past a line of soldierssurrounding the school, desperate for news of their children.
"We're still pulling out people alive, but many, many havedied," said one medical worker.
At a second school in Dujiangyan, fewer than 100 of 420students survived, Xinhua reported.
The initial tremor, which the U.S. Geological Surveyupgraded to magnitude 7.9 from 7.8, was followed by a series ofaftershocks, which shook the area through the night.
"Some are still very strong," said a Dujiangyan resident."We have put up tents outside to sleep in."
A group of about 15 British tourists were out of reach nearthe quake's epicentre, likely in Wolong, an area famous for itsGiant Panda research centre, Xinnhua reported.
"TIME IS LIFE"
China's benchmark stock index traded down after the quake,which forced suspension of trading in the shares of 66companies.
However, analysts said they did not expect a major economicimpact from the disaster though it could mean supply shortagesthat fuel inflation, already at a near 12-year high.
China's Communist Party leadership announced that copingwith the devastating quake and ensuring that it did notthreaten social stability were now the government's priorities.
The Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal for blood andthe Ministry of Railways imposed a state of emergency fortrains linking Sichuan with other provinces.
"Time is life," said an official announcement from theCommunist Party Standing Committee. "Make fighting theearthquake and rescue work the current top task."
The Sichuan quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976Tangshan tremor in north-eastern China where up to 300,000died. Then, unlike now, the Communist Party kept a tight lid oninformation about the extent of the disaster.
Neighbouring areas were also affected, with 189 reporteddead in the north-western province of Gansu, 92 killed inShaanxi province and school collapses in the municipality ofChongqing.
In Gansu, the quake caused a train to derail, spillingpetrol tanks and sparking a fire, Xinhua reported.
In Sichuan's Shifang, where the quake sparked a majorchemical leak of liquid ammonia, about 600 people died and asmany as 2,300 remained buried, Xinhua said.
In Chengdu, many residents slept outside or in cars asaftershocks shook the city. On Tuesday, most shops wereshuttered and authorities were evacuating hotels and bigbuildings.
"At this time of disaster, we are one family," local radiosaid. "We are confident that under the leadership of the Party,families can be reunited and we can leave this nightmare."
A paramilitary officer marching with a hundred troopstowards Wenchuan described a devastated landscape.
"I have seen many collapsed civilian houses and the rocksdropped from mountains on the roadside are everywhere," Xinhuaquoted People's Armed Police officer Liu Zaiyuan as saying.
(Writing by Lindsay Beck and Chris Buckley; Editing by NickMacfie and Sanjeev Miglani)