In the Heavenly Lake district of the town, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northeast of Chengdu, residents were on Saturday making a tentative return, almost two weeks after the huge earthquake drove them from their homes.

In a mark of heart-rending poignance, the clock in the town square is stopped at 2.28 pm, the time that the 8.0-magnitude quake struck on May 12.

Stoicism and bewilderment are tinged with anger here over what people describe as the government's slow response to their plight, with many saying they survived for days before any help came.

"We waited three days for help and still there are people in there," said a man surnamed Guo, gesturing to a pile of bricks, concrete and glass that was once one of 12 apartment blocks.

"Why did we have to wait for so long in the first place? And still no one comes," he said, a few hours before the bulldozers moved in.

Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday the death toll from the quake was more than 60,000, and could possibly climb to 80,000, with 11 million people expected to be housed in camps as condemned areas are evacuated.

In Hanwang -- described on a green banner hanging from a bridge as a "reform experimental town of the state" -- most of the population of 60,000 have nowhere to live.

As the clean-up operation got underway, and a week after an initial army effort to rescue survivors, some residents were asking if Hanwang had disappeared from the official radar.

"You see a lot of reports in the papers and on television about other places, like Mianzhu, but nothing about Hanwang," said one resident. "We don't seem to be getting any attention at all."

One man described the anguish of a friend who listened for two days to the cries of his 18-year-old daughter from beneath the remains of his building.

"On the third day, when still no one had come, he couldn't hear her any more," said the man, who declined to give his name. "Her body is still in there, somewhere."

Many of Hanwang's roads have been blocked by the army to prevent people returning to dangerous buildings. Small tent encampments have been thrown up in the town square and near an old steam turbine factory on the outskirts.

Official media reported last week that 500 workers and their family members had been buried beneath factory buildings.

Residents of the Heavenly Lake Coal Mine compound who spoke with AFP said many in the town, situated less than 40 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, are staying with relatives elsewhere.

"I've taken my parents to stay with my younger brother in Chengdu," said one man in his 50s. "We're lucky we could do that."

Another resident, surnamed Ma, said: "We have no choice but to wait for the government to help us. You could hardly call anyone here rich."

Most people in the compound were former employees of the mine, he said, many of them retired.

In Hanwang, the few buildings left standing are uninhabitable, in danger of imminent collapse.

Balconies hang from the sides of buildings, curtains flap between shards of glass in twisted window frames, piles of bricks and concrete are strewn with shoes, children's toys and family photographs.

"That was the school," said one resident, pointing to an indistinguishable heap of rubble, recalling that 200 children were in it when it collapsed.

"Funny how the government buildings all stayed standing but the school collapsed. I guess that's the situation in China," he said.

Residents, most wearing face masks against the threat of disease and the stench of rotting cadavers and waste, said countless bodies remained unrecovered. Nearby, Dutch recovery experts worked with sniffer dogs to pinpoint bodies.

The contrast with Mianzhu, the county seat, is stark as a heavy army presence there has established large camps for the homeless and military brigades march in the streets chanting slogans.

One camp at the sports ground caters for 7,000 people, with running water, latrines, a clinic and volunteers from across the country, including teachers helping to keep orphaned children occupied.

Trucks arrive in convoys to deliver food and equipment including generators.

Back in Hanwang, near the town square a family of three generations sat on a brown sofa retrieved from their destroyed flat.

"People here are relying on their families," said a woman surnamed Tang. "It's all we can do."

As she spoke, her husband found the family cat, trapped for 12 days in their second floor flat.

"She's starving, but I'm glad she's OK," he said as he fed her a sausage.

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