Strong quake shakes central China

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A major earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.5 shook central China's eastern Sichuan province Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

CHENGDU, China (CNN) -- Rainy weather and poor logistics thwarted efforts by relief troops who walked for hours over rock, debris and mud on Tuesday in hopes of reaching the worst-hit area of an earthquake that killed nearly 10,000 in central China, state-run media reported.The Chinese government said the death toll was sure to rise.

An expert told CNN the 7.9-magnitude quake at about 2:28 p.m. Monday (6:28 a.m. GMT) was the largest the region has seen "for over a generation."

At one school, almost 900 students -- all eighth-graders and ninth-graders, according to a local villager -- were believed to be buried.