The death toll from the powerful  earthquake in China climbed to nearly 10,000 on Tuesday and it may go up with thousands more remaining under debris of collapsed buildings as rescuers struggled to reach remote towns and villages devastated by the country's worst natural disaster in three decades.

Thousands of Chinese troops and medical teams have been dispatched to areas of worst affected Sichuan province.

The Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said more  than 1,180 tremors up to magnitude six on the Richter scale have been recorded as of 5 am (local time) on Tuesday.

According to Xinhua at least 10,000 people remained buried today in Mianzhu city in Sichuan province. The country was immersed in immense grief as the death toll rose to nearly 10,000.

Authorities estimate that at least five thousand people died in Sichuan's Beichuan county. Local officials said at least 80 per cent of the buildings there have collapsed, and 10-thousand more people are feared injured. Beichuan is about 160 kilometers north of Sichuan's capital, Chengdu.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Sichuan last evening, urged "calm, confidence and courage" in face of the catastrophe.

 Reports said relief teams are headed to mountainous Wenchuan county on foot, but are still nearly 70 kilometers
from their destination.

There is still little information on the scale of the destruction in Wenchuan, home to more than 100-thousand people. Xinhua says storms have prevented military rescue helicopters from reaching the site.