May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Russia, Japan and Taiwan joined China's rescue operation as troops poured into Sichuan province to free as many as 30,000 people trapped in collapsed buildings after the nation's most powerful earthquake in 58 years.

Li Wenliang, a counselor at the Foreign Ministry, said it marks the first time the Chinese government has accepted foreign professionals to assist domestic disaster rescue and relief efforts, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

``We will never give up hope looking for survivors,'' Gao Qiang, China's vice minister of health, told a news conference in Beijing yesterday. The quake was ``the most serious natural disaster'' since New China was founded in 1949, he said.

The death toll from the May 12 quake may reach 50,000 with more than 100,000 injured, Xinhua reported. The government deployed more than 130,000 soldiers and relief workers and 110 helicopters to find people still buried and injured, and rescuers have reached all 58 stricken counties and towns in the mountainous western province.

The relief operation, one the biggest China has mounted, may escalate as officials check reservoirs and hydro-electric stations near the epicenter to prevent secondary disasters as flood season approaches. As many as 391 hydro-dams are in ``dangerous condition,'' the government said.

PetroChina Damage

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake damaged 728 PetroChina Co. gasoline stations in the region, and 78 stopped operating, Xinhua said yesterday, citing Jiang Jiemin, chairman of the nation's largest oil company. Production at a natural gas well with a capacity of 6 million cubic meters per day was halted, though it is now producing 2 million cubic meters per day, Xinhua said.

Of 76 PetroChina drilling rigs in the quake region, only 16 are still in operation, Jiang said, according to Xinhua.

A 60-member Japanese rescue team arrived early today in Chengdu, the hard-hit provincial capital, the first foreign aid personnel to reach the scene since the quake hit, Xinhua said. A chartered freight flight from Taiwan reached Chengdu with a load of blankets, tents and clothes.

Russian planes delivered aid to the quake area, and China agreed to accept rescuers and medics from its northern neighbor, Xinhua said, quoting a Russian Emergency Ministry statement distributed by the Russian news agency Interfax. The government also accepted offers of ``rescue aid'' from South Korea and Singapore, Xinhua reported.

Contrast With Myanmar

China's acceptance of outside help contrasts with that of Myanmar, where the military junta is still hampering international aid efforts almost two weeks after a cyclone killed as many as 100,000 people, according to United Nations estimates.

The earthquake was the world's strongest since an 8.5- magnitude temblor struck Indonesia in September, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was the most powerful to hit China since a magnitude-8.6 quake struck Tibet in 1950, killing 1,526 people. A 7.5-magnitude quake killed 250,000 people in northeastern China's Tangshan in 1976, according to the USGS.

State television yesterday showed extensive footage of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visiting affected villages and speaking to survivors and rescuers through a megaphone, as he did in January during the worst snowstorms in half a century.

`So Many Children'

``So many children perished, I'm very saddened,'' Wen told survivors in Qingchuan county in comments broadcast on state television. ``I know there are still many injured and hurt. You are facing great difficulties in your lives. We are mourning for the dead, but at the same time we have to stand together, use our hands to rebuild our homes.''

In the county, more than 200 students were confirmed dead after the school dormitory where they were taking an afternoon nap collapsed, Xinhua reported. An estimated 89 students are still buried, while 139 escaped, the agency said.

Hundreds of students are still trapped under the rubble at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan, which is the center of disaster-relief operations and about 36 kilometers south of Wenchuan, according to a security guard who would only give his last name, Chen.

The quake destroyed or damaged houses and other buildings in 44 counties and districts in Sichuan, with about half of the 20 million population in the area directly affected, Xinhua said.

Rains that disrupted rescue operations earlier this week have subsided. The forecast is for cloudy conditions for the next two days, the China Meteorological Administration said.

Soldiers, paramilitary units and medical teams have reached Wenchuan, the nearest city to the epicenter of the quake, and found it all but destroyed. The city had a population of 118,000 people.

`Save Lives'

``The scale of the disaster is something we have never experienced before,'' Liu Junlin, the Communist Party secretary of Dujiangyan, said in an interview at a sports stadium under construction. ``We are exhausting all our resources to rescue trapped people and save lives.''

Beichuan County, to the northeast of Wenchuan, has been mostly leveled, making it one of the most severely damaged areas. Rescue workers and troops are mounting round-the-clock efforts to bring backhoes and lifting equipment across the mountainous terrain to reach the thousands of survivors still believed to be under rubble.

The road to Beichuan was choked with traffic, as volunteers drove truck-loads of food, water and blankets to the area. Lan Shaoming, 39, filled three trucks with instant noodles and bottled water, planning to drive 2,000 kilometers to Beichuan.

``When I was 7, the world reached out to help victims of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed a quarter of a million people in my hometown,'' Lan said. ``Now it's time to return the gesture to Beichuan.''

Editor: Haijing Qu