China intensifies quake rescue but hopes dim

China ordered fresh waves of helicopters and aid into earthquake-devastated areas as severed roads, aftershocks and the sheer magnitude of 15,000 or more dead defied increasingly desperate rescue efforts.

The Communist Party leadership ordered officials to "ensure social stability" as Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake in southwest Sichuan province spawned rumors of chemical spills, fears of dam bursts and torrid scenes of collective grief.

Early on Thursday, the official estimated death toll from the Monday quake stood at nearly 14,463, unchanged from the previous day. In all, about 10 million people have been directly affected by the quake, according to the Xinhua news agency.

But as rescuers pick through towns turned to rubble in Wenchuan and other counties nearest the earthquake's epicenter, the toll of missing -- and probably dead -- is likely to balloon.

"In one minute the city we know flew away. I never dreamt it could happen," said He Lixia, a kindergarten teacher in Dujiangyan, where many residents slept outdoors, fearful of more quakes and building collapses.

"My father and mother are dead. My son was crushed under his school. My wife's office has collapsed and her phone is not working," said a man wandering outside one encampment there.

In Shifang, another small Sichuan city that also covers many villages, 30,000 of some 430,000 residents were missing or out of contact, local officials told Xinhua.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party's Standing Committee met late on Wednesday to assess the calamity that has thrown a dark shadow over preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.

The meeting ordered fresh waves of soldiers and paratroopers to help, and the government announced 90 more helicopters -- in addition to 20 already deployed -- will try to reach areas where buckled roads have frustrated rescuers, state media reported.

"As long as there is a glimmer of hope, spare no efforts in rescuing," the Party leadership ordered, according to Xinhua. "Ensure social stability in the disaster zone."

But now, into the fourth day since the 7.9 magnitude quake, hopes of pulling many survivors from crumpled schools, homes and factories appear increasingly dim.

A paramilitary officer who arrived at Wenchuan, at the epicenter, told Sichuan TV that a third of houses there had been destroyed and more than 90 percent damaged.

Officials have also warned of dangers from increased strain on local dams as well as mudslides on brittle hillsides where rain has been forecast over the next few days.

Landslides had blocked the flow of two rivers in northern Qingchuan county, forming a huge lake in a region where 1,000 have already died and 700 are buried, Xinhua said.

"The rising water could cause the mountains to collapse. We desperately need geological experts to carry out tests and fix a rescue plan," Xinhua quoted Li Hao, the county's Communist Party chief, as saying.

Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist himself, has criss-crossed the disaster zone and made emotional appeals to workers and comfort orphaned children.

"To be responsible to the people, be responsible to history, we must do rescue organization work at this crucial moment," he said late on Wednesday, according to Xinhua.

The quake was the worst to hit China since 1976 when up to 300,000 died. Leading disaster modeling firm AIR Worldwide said the cost of the quake was likely to exceed $20 billion.

(Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by David Fox)

China quake kills nearly 10,000 in Sichuan

Nearly 10,000 people were killed by the earthquake that hammered southwest China, officials said on Tuesday as rescuers struggled to reach the worst-hit areas, where many more may have died.

Rescuers worked frantically through the night, pulling bodies from schools, homes, factories and hospitals that were demolished by the 7.8 magnitude quake, which rippled from a mountainous area of Sichuan province across much of China on Monday afternoon.

The toll from China's worst earthquake for over three decades appeared sure to climb as troops struggled on foot to reach the worst-hit area, Wenchuan, a hilly county of 112,000 people 100 km (62 miles) from Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

About 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed there, bowed three times in grief before some of the 50 bodies already pulled out, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Not one minute can be wasted," Wen said, state television showed. "One minute, one second could mean a child's life."

At a second school in Dujiangyan, fewer than 100 of 420 students survived, Xinhua reported.

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

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

Officials must speed food, water, medicine and other necessities to quake-stricken areas, the meeting ordered, adding that officials must keep a grip on social stability.

"Strengthen positive guidance of opinion," the meeting urged, warning against the spread of rumors.

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.

SEVERED ROADS, RAIL LINES

In Chengdu, many residents slept outside or in cars on Monday night, fearing more tremors in the city where at least 45 people died and 600 were injured.

The government has rushed troops and medical teams to dig for survivors and treat the injured. But severed roads and rail lines blocked the way to Wenchuan, and local officials described crumpled houses, landslides and scenes of desperation.

"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment," the Communist Party chief of Wenchuan, Wang Bin said, according to Xinhua.

Most farmers' homes in two townships had collapsed and there was no word from the three townships nearest the epicenter, which have a population of 24,000, the report added. So far Wenchuan has reported 15 dead, a number likely to rise steeply.

More than 7,000 may have died in Sichuan's Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, where 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed, Sichuan television said. Beichuan has a population of 161,000, meaning about one in 10 there were killed or injured.

"Even if it means walking in, we must enter the worst-hit areas as quickly as possible," Wen said, according to Xinhua.

But a paramilitary officer marching with a hundred troops towards Wenchuan described a devastated landscape that is likely to yield many dead and to frustrate rescuers.

"I have seen many collapsed civilian houses and the rocks dropped from mountains on the roadside are everywhere," said the People's Armed Police officer Liu Zaiyuan, according to Xinhua.

U.S. to give $500,000 to China earthquake relief

The United States plans to contribute $500,000 to help with earthquake relief efforts in China in anticipation of an appeal for aid by the International Red Cross, the White House said on Tuesday.

"It's an initial contribution in response to the event," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"As other engineers tour the area and the needs become evident, we'll consider what if any additional funding is needed," she said.

Chinese officials have said about 12,000 people have been killed since the 7.9 magnitude quake struck the southwestern region of Sichuan, with China's state media reporting that thousands more were buried.

U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier on Tuesday to offer condolences and U.S. assistance, Perino said.

In discussions on the struggling cyclone relief efforts in Myanmar, a Chinese ally, "President Hu offered to continue to assist our efforts," she said.

Bush on Monday condemned the military junta that runs the former Burma for failing to act more quickly to accept international help after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country and left up to 100,000 dead or missing, saying "either they are isolated or callous."

Bush also raised with Hu the issue of Tibet, which exploded in anti-Chinese riots in March that were followed by a tough crackdown and widespread international protests over Chinese policy in the Himalayan region, Perino said.

The U.S. president "encouraged the Chinese government to continue to reach out to the Dalai Lama's representatives and engage in substantive dialogue so that long-standing issues with regard to Tibet may be resolved," she said.

Aides to the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader and Chinese officials held talks in southern China early this month and have said more meetings will be held.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by David Storey and David Wiessler)