MIANYANG, China - China poured more troops into the earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday to speed up the search for survivors as time ran out for thousands of people buried under rubble and mud.
Weary rescuers pulled at tangled chunks of buildings and peered into crevices for signs of life after Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake crumpled homes, schools and hospitals.
The government dispatched 50,000 troops to the south-western province to dig for victims as the national death toll climbed past 13,000. It is likely to rise steeply after state media said 19,000 were buried in the province's Mianyang area alone.
On the edge of Mianyang city, people roamed around a sports ground housing the homeless, holding cardboard signs with the names of relatives in hopes of information. Most were from nearby rural Beichuan county, 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'll be able to go home," said Hu Luobing, from a Beichuan village where she said everything had been destroyed.
She was leaving her daughter in the shelter of the sports ground, where some 10,000 Beichuan survivors had gathered, to look for clothes.
Others were seeking food and relief from the cold rain.
"I've had nothing to eat since last night. I've only been given some bread and a bottle of water for my child," said Bai Chenchu, one of thousands camped out at the sports ground.
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 have struggled to reach, showed near total devastation. Survivors lay alongside the dead in the open air, surrounded by buildings reduced to mangled slabs of concrete.
PREMIER'S APPEAL
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been in Sichuan leading rescue efforts, making emotional 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. He stood amid a cluster of residents, one with blood on her head and some of whom wiped away tears. "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 water and medicine, Xinhua said.
