BOULDER, Colo. -- "About two million people were experiencing violent shaking," said Dr. Stuart Sipkin at the USGS National Earthquake center.

As the sun rises Tuesday, the fear is that emergency crews will find more bodies and the number of those killed, already nearing 10,000, will likely rise.

"So this is, I mean, these are really big numbers," Sipkin said.

They are frightening numbers for Kaijia Gentry, who came to Colorado from China in 1992.

"Now, so far, I only worry about my brother and sister," Gentry said.

Gentry said she's never been through an earthquake before and didn't realize the area near Chengdu was prone to them.

"I never know because, now, this time, it's so horrible. So far, as far as I know, my family is OK," Gentry said.

There was no word on Monday from her brother and sister, but a friend in Chengdu did help.

"So far I only got the one message that make me feel good," Gentry said.

Seismologists say the massive 9.1 quake off the coast of Sumatra in December of 2004 seemed to signal in a new era of instability.

"Things were relatively quiet until about 2004. Things have picked up," Sipkin said.

With a 7.9, Sipkin said it's three times stronger to people on the ground than the 7.8 they had initially estimated.

"So there were nearly 2 million people that experienced a level of shaking that would make it difficult if not impossible to stand up or walk," Sipkin said.