By Ben Blanchard
MIANYANG, China (Reuters) - China poured more troops intothe earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday tospeed up the search for survivors as time ran out for thousandsof people buried under rubble and mud.
Weary rescuers pulled at tangled chunks of buildings andpeered into crevices for signs of life after Monday's 7.9magnitude quake crumpled homes, schools and hospitals.
The government dispatched 50,000 troops to thesouth-western province to dig for victims as the national deathtoll climbed past 13,000. It is likely to rise steeply afterstate media said 19,000 were buried in the province's Mianyangarea alone.
Officials have also warned of dangers from increased strainon local dams, as well as mudslides on the region's brittlehillsides.
On the edge of Mianyang city, people roamed around a sportsground housing the homeless, holding cardboard signs with thenames of relatives in hopes of information. Most were from thenearby rural county of Beichuan, one of the worst-hit areas.
"They have said nothing about what's going to happen to us.This is just a temporary place. I don't know when or if we'llbe able to go home," said Hu Luobing, from a Beichuan villagewhere she said everything had been destroyed.
She was leaving her daughter in the shelter of the sportsground, where some 10,000 Beichuan survivors had gathered, tolook for clothes.
Others were seeking food and relief from the cold rain.
"I've had nothing to eat since last night. I've only beengiven some bread and a bottle of water for my child," said BaiChenchu, one of thousands camped out there.
Another had only the clothes on his back.
"I'm wearing everything I own," said 15-year-old Xi Dongli.
Pictures from Beichuan, a hilly area that rescuers havestruggled to reach, showed near total devastation. Survivorslay alongside the dead in the open air, surrounded by buildingsreduced to mangled slabs of concrete.
PREMIER'S APPEAL
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been in Sichuan makingemotional appeals to urge on workers and visiting crying,orphaned children, was in Beichuan by midday.
"Your pain is our pain," he said on state television. Hestood amid a cluster of residents, some of whom wiped awaytears. "Saving people's lives in the most important task."
Beichuan county alone was in urgent need of 50,000 tents,200,000 blankets and 300,000 coats, as well as drinking waterand medicine, the state news agency Xinhua said.
The quake, the worst to hit China since 1976 when up to300,000 died, has drowned out upbeat government propagandathree months ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.
It has also muffled criticism from abroad over recentunrest in Tibet, with images of the human tragedy and heroicrescue efforts spurring offers of aid and an outpouring ofsympathy.
The Chinese Communist Party's swift action to mobilise amassive rescue force has made a jarring comparison with that ofMyanmar, whose government's late and suspicious response to adevastating cyclone has infuriated aid and rights groups.
China's stock market initially weakened after the quake,partly on fears it could add to inflation that is already at a12-year high, but the Shanghai index ended 2.7 percent higheron Wednesday as fears of the long-term impact ebbed.
Industrial production growth released on Wednesday showedChina's busy factories moving down a gear, and economists saidoutput growth could fade further in coming months, partly dueto the impact of the Sichuan quake.
FOOD AND SHELTER
Central authorities have ordered stricken areas to ensurefood supplies and price stability, but some Chinese newsreports described price rises and shortages.
The extent of destruction in many towns across themountainous area suggested searchers would find many morebodies than survivors among the toppled buildings.
Rain has frustrated rescuers' efforts to get to some areasand more rain is forecast for coming days.
"Everything became very difficult last night with the rain.There are a lot of people with no place to go," said KateJanis, a programme director with the aid organisation MercyCorps.
State media reported devastation in villages near theepicentre in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by landslidesabout 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Chengdu. About 60,000people were unaccounted for across Wenchuan, authorities said.
In Wenchuan's Yingxiu town, only 2,300 of its 10,000residents were accounted for, Xinhua reported.
Amid the overwhelming grief, there were also moments ofrelief. In Sichuan's Mianzhu, about 500 people were pulled outalive from crushed buildings.
(Writing and additional reporting by Lindsay Beck, ChrisBuckley and Ian Ransom in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie andJohn Chalmers)
