By Emma Graham-Harrison
DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - The toll from China's mostdeadly earthquake in decades climbed to nearly 15,000 onWednesday as troops, firefighters and civilians raced to savemore than 25,000 people buried under rubble and mud.
The toll had reached 14,866 by Wednesday afternoon, andmore than 25,000 people remained buried under collapsedschools, factories and other buildings ruined by Monday's 7.9magnitude quake, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Weary rescuers pulled at tangled chunks of buildings andpeered into crevices for signs of life amid scenes ofdevastation spanning a wide swathe of southwestern Sichuanprovince.
The government sent 50,000 troops to dig for victims.
Amid the overwhelming gloom, there were also moments ofjoy. In Mianzhu, where thousands have already been confirmeddead, about 500 people were pulled out alive from crushedbuildings.
Rescuers in Hanwang, a village in Mianzhu, sustained a girlwith food and water as they struggled to free her from theruins of a flattened four-storey school building.
A woman eight-months pregnant and her mother, trapped fortwo days under an apartment building in Dujiangyan, were freedby firemen and taken to hospital.
"We are very happy. We have been standing here shouting fortwo days," said Pan Jianjun, a relative. "But there are stillthree more people in there making sounds."
Officials have also warned of dangers from increased strainon local dams as well as mudslides on brittle hillsides.
Two hydropower stations in Maoxian county, where 7,000residents and tourists remain stranded near the quake'sepicentre, were "seriously damaged". Authorities warned thatlocal dams there could burst.
On the edge of Mianyang city, people roamed around a sportsground filled with about 10,000 homeless, holding cardboardsigns with the names of relatives. Most were from the nearbyrural 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.
Others were seeking food and relief from the rain.
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.
Four townships in Mianyang, where thousands have alreadybeen confirmed dead, are still completely cut off from theoutside world. Another 20,000 people remain unaccounted for inZhongan county, including 120 miners underground, Xinhua said.
PREMIER'S APPEAL
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 is 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, 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.
A Russian transport plane carrying 30 tonnes of reliefsupplies arrived in Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu onWednesday, the first batch of international aid to reach China.
The Chinese Communist Party's swift action to mobilise amassive rescue force has made a jarring comparison with that ofMyanmar, whose government's slow and disorganised 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 stock index ended 2.7 percenthigher on 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.
Leading disaster modelling firm AIR Worldwide said the costof the quake was likely to exceed $20 billion.
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, but the weathercleared on Wednesday afternoon.
State media reported devastation in villages near theepicentre in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by landslidesabout 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Chengdu.
In Wenchuan's Yingxiu township, only 2,300 of its 10,000residents were accounted for, Xinhua reported. The fate of tensof thousands more in nearby villages was unknown.
A cordon of soldiers blocked anguished parents from acollapsed building at Xindian primary school in Dujiangyan,where about 200 children and staff were buried.
A nearby sign told relatives to search for their childrenat the local morgue.
(Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard inMianyang and Lindsay Beck, Chris Buckley and Ian Ransom inBeijing; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fogarty)