China Quake Death Toll Rises to Nearly 10,000 Death toll in China earthquake rises to nearly 10,000 while untold numbers remain trapped A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing about 10,000 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades. The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam. As Tuesday dawned, rescuers were frantically searching for more survivors, but rain was compounding the difficulty. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to the region, said rain was forecast for the next several days. Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the...