JIANGYOU, China (CNN) -- The death toll from the massive earthquake in central China exceeded 12,000 Tuesday, as rescue workers frantically tried to pull victims from the rubble and clear roads of debris so more relief can be delivered.

A senior official with the Sichuan Provincial government said Tuesday the death toll in the province has surpassed 12,000 and is rising, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon that the death toll was based on incomplete figures tallied by 4 p.m. (0900 GMT, 0400 ET) Tuesday.

He said another 26,206 people were injured and as many as 3.5 million homes have been destroyed.

Xinhua also reported that more than 18,645 people were buried under rubble in the city of Mianyang alone -- 3,629 people were also reported dead in the city, which neighbors the epicenter of the earthquake.

A string of nearly 30 seismic jolts hit the province in the first 24 hours following Monday's quake and slowed the progress of 1,300-strong rescue teams. All of those quakes were magnitude 4.0 and above.

A Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry official said his country welcomed foreign donations of money and materials, but it was not ready for outside teams of rescue and relief workers because its transportation system could not handle the additional traffic.

Roads blocked by rocks and mudslides had hampered the effort to reach the epicenter in Wenchuan County, forcing military doctors and soldiers to walk to reach the area almost 24 hours after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook central China, Xinhua said.

Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao ordered the military to make it a priority to open the roads into Wenchuan County, home to about 100,000 people, by midday Tuesday. He arrived in the earthquake zone Monday to personally direct the relief efforts.

"At present, we have great difficulties to carry out our rescue work," Wen said. "Blocked roads, disrupted communication and continuous rainfall have all created obstacles to our rescue efforts."

Several thousand additional soldiers should reach the area later Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua said.

Heavy rains forced the military to cancel plans to drop Chinese People's Liberation Army paratroopers into the Wenchuan area, Xinhua said. Bad weather also has grounded all helicopter relief efforts, the military said.

CNN's John Vause saw block after block of devastation in the town of Jiang You, about 60 miles (100 km) from the epicenter, arriving there about a day after the quake hit.

"These people who live in the city are now hunkering down under tarpaulins and under tents," Vause said, as a steady drizzle added to the misery. "Many are afraid to go back indoors because their buildings are no longer safe."

Communications with survivors near the epicenter has been difficult because of broken telecommunication lines and poor weather. An official using a satellite phone did give an initial report that about a third of all buildings had collapsed and another third were seriously damaged, Xinhua said.

In Guixi Township -- 35 km (22 miles) from the epicenter -- thousands of residents huddled under makeshift tents and tarps, their only shelter from a steady rain Tuesday.

Row after row of houses collapsed during the earthquake, leaving people with no place to go. Many injured and hungry people wandered the streets, creating a scene of human misery. The roads to the town were open, but still no relief workers were around.

An expert told CNN the earthquake, which struck at 2:28 p.m. (0728 GMT, 0228 ET) Monday, was the largest the region has seen "for over a generation."

The area is also the refuge for much of China's panda population. The fate of the 130 pandas housed at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center was unknown, Xinhua reported.

President Bush said the United States is prepared to help China "in any way possible" in the quake's aftermath.

A top U.S. aid official said Beijing had not yet requested assistance.

The United States has search-and-rescue teams standing by in Virginia and California, said Ky Luu, the director of foreign disaster assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Luu said Beijing has good disaster-response mechanisms of its own.

"The Chinese have a strong capability of responding," he said, adding that the United States doesn't want to displace the internal expertise. "There is a 72-hour window of opportunity and it may be best to support regional teams on the ground."

Some 20,000 Chinese troops have been deployed to the region, while another 24,000 are scheduled to be airlifted to affected areas, Xinhua reported. Another 3,000 police officers have been activated.

"It looks like they've mounted a pretty monumental effort to do the best that they can there," said Kate Janie, director of Mercy Corps, a humanitarian group channeling disaster aid to the region through a partner agency.

"I think the Chinese government will make very active, proactive, transparent steps in dealing with this." Video Grief is spreading as the scope of the disaster is realized. »

Zhenyao said 60,000 tents and 50,000 quilts have been dispatched to the disaster zone.

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport reopened Tuesday after authorities inspected its runways for damage following the quake, Xinhua reported. The resumption of air service gives the province additional links for funneling supplies into the badly battered region.

A 40-car freight train, carrying 13 tankers full of gasoline, derailed and caught fire Monday in Gansu province, officials said, according to state-run media, cutting the Baoji-Chengdu railway.
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Monday's quake shook the ground in Beijing, 950 miles (1,528 km) away. Residents of the capital, which hosts this year's Olympic Games in August, said they felt a rolling sensation that lasted about a minute. It resulted in the evacuation of thousands of people from Beijing buildings.

A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee said no Olympic venues were affected.