Rescuers are racing against time in the search for survivors on Tuesday, a day after a quake struck China's south-western province of Sichuan. The death toll has surpassed 12,000. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Sichuan on Monday, urged the public to have "composure, confidence and courage' in the face of the catastrophe. Mr. Wen is heading a temporary disaster relief headquarters. Wenchuan County, the epicentre, has reported 57 deaths and the fate of about 60,000 other residents was yet to be clarified. "I am so worried. So worried,' said He Biao, a government official with the Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities, Sichuan Province. Wenchuan and neighbouring areas are situated in the steep hills north of Sichuan's capital Chengdu. Attempts to reach the epicentre "by land, air and water were all thwarted' by a combination of transport and communications problems and rain, said an official. Mr. Wen ordered the clearance of rocks and mudslips that were blocking roads to Wenchuan on Tuesday. Nearly 20,000 soldiers and policemen have arrived in Sichuan, with 30,000 more troops expected to join rescue efforts, said the Defence Ministry. Meanwhile, 11 planes were mobilised to send personnel to the quake-stricken areas, with 30 flights scheduled on Tuesday alone. Pile of rubble In Beichuan County, 160 km northeast of Wenchuan County, rescuers were searching for survivors. At least 1,000 students and teachers were buried when a school collapsed. The main building of the Beichuan Middle School, a seven-story structure, had been reduced to a pile of rubble about 2 metres high. About 2,000 students, parents and villagers waited as armed police searched for survivors in the ruins. Many parents burst into tears when a rescuer brought a teenage girl out of the ruins. She had lost her legs. Chen Linglin huddled with her seventh-grade classmates, waiting for help. "We need food and water more than anything else,' she said. The quake, the worst to hit China since the Tangshan quake of 1976, also toppled schools and buildings elsewhere in Sichuan and neighbouring Chongqing Municipality, trapping thousands. In Anchang Township, Anxian County, power, water and gas supplies were disrupted, and food and drinking water have become scarce. Most stores in town have run out of supplies and many residents are living on leftovers from two days ago. A spokesman for the China Seismological Bureau (CSB) said on Tuesday that rescuers saved 58 persons trapped in collapsed buildings. The Red Cross Society of China has received donations worth more than $8.57 million. On China's web portal, sina.com, news on the earthquake has drawn nearly 4,30,000 responses from users who mourned the victims, voiced their concern for the survivors and support for the rescuers.