Premier Wen Jiabao comforts an injured child in Mianyang, Sichuan province, yesterday. [Photo: Xinhua]

Rescuers were last night racing against time to find survivors a day after the strongest quake to hit China in 32 years jolted Sichuan province, demolishing buildings and burying tens of thousands beneath the rubble.

Rescuers search through the debris of a collapsed building of Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, yesterday. [Photo: Reuters]

Hundreds of People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers entered Wenchuan county, the epicenter, yesterday and pulled more than 1,000 people from debris, according to the disaster relief headquarters of the Chengdu Military Command. It was not clear how many had survived. Earlier reports said 3,000 people of the town's total population of 12,000 were known to have survived.

The confirmed national death toll reached more than 12,000 by 2 am today, nearly all of them in Sichuan, according to the temporary disaster relief headquarters headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived in Dujiangyan to oversee the rescue work.

"We will try our best to send milk powder to parents and ensure children do not go hungry," he said yesterday after learning that some infants were running short of food and many people needed drinking water and tents.

Wen was visiting cities worst hit by the quake, including Dujiangyan, Deyang and Mianzhu.

He said the rescue work had entered a crucial stage and asked people to remain calm, confident and united.

He comforted a crying child in Mianzhu, saying: "Don't cry. Food will be sent in a short time. Biscuits and milk powder will be sent in a short time."

He told villagers: "I know some of your family and friends have died. We are deeply saddened. Some people are still trapped. We will do our utmost to rescue them."

Xia Guofu, Sichuan provincial military commander, led a team of more than 300 soldiers into Wenchuan and more troops were expected imminently, said Ye Wanyong, political commissar of the command.

Rescuers who arrived at Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan on foot yesterday afternoon said the town was inaccessible by road.

The soldiers reported more than 70 percent of the roads in the town were damaged, and almost all bridges had collapsed. Many people were believed to be under the debris.

Previous attempts by rescuers to reach the epicenter "by land, air and water" failed because of landslides, telecommunication breakdown and rain, an official with the Sichuan provincial relief headquarters said.