MIANYANG, CHINA - CHINA planned to dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large 'quake lake' on Monday, hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province.

The official estimate of dead from the May 12 earthquake is now more than 60,000, but that number is certain to grow as searchers account for more of the 30,000 missing.

The frenzied initial rescue response is cooling into a long battle with nature, deprivation and latent discontent sure to last long after the thousands of aftershocks.

The lake's barrier is in danger of bursting after the water level rose by nearly two metres on Saturday to 723 metres, only 29 metres below the lowest part of the barrier.

'The lake is now holding more than 128 million cubic metres of water and may cause a devastating flood if the barrier bursts,' Xinhua said.

Mianyang, a city near the worst-hit areas, had returned to a kind of normality, with shops open and traders and pedestrians filling streets. But much remained to remind China that absorbing the damage of the quake will take many years.

'Missing' posters

The city sports stadium was thronged by thousands of the estimated 5 million people displaced by the quake. City roads were busy with troops and supply trucks that will have to support decimated towns and villages for a long time yet.

And the hundreds of 'missing' posters plastered on boards at the stadium and on lampposts echo the grief the quake has left - and volatile anger over many children killed when their schools crumpled, often even as other buildings nearby stood.

'We don't know how long we'll be here. It already seems like years and years,' said Mr Zhu Huajun, a displaced farmer whose 14-year-old daughter lost both legs when her school collapsed.

'As well as all the dead, so many people have also been disabled and if it's a kid how can you be sure that she'll be taken care of properly in a few years, when people forget the quake?'

At least 5,498 children have been left alone in Sichuan's quake zone, because they have been orphaned or their parents cannot be found, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday.

For now, however, the government is scrambling to cope with the immediate threats and pressures unleashed by the quake.

Aftershocks continue to rattle nervous residents, with many sleeping outdoors even when their homes are unscathed.

A strong aftershock on Sunday killed at least two people, injured 480 and toppled more than 70,000 houses.

As the rainy season arrives, officials also worry about dangerous build-ups of water forming dozens of lakes caused by landslides that lopped the whole tops of mountains.

At Tangjiashan, near the faultline, authorities plan to blast a hole in the barrier before it bursts and causes a flash flood. Thousands below the lake have been evacuated as a precaution.

And on top of all this are the demands of sheltering, feeding and managing millions of people whose homes and often livelihoods have been crushed.

The government has asked the international community to provide more relief aid, saying they need more than 3 million tents and that just 400,000 had so far reached the disaster zone.

'Living like this is much more tiring than you'd think,' said Mr Jiang Shuncheng, a farmer living in a tent. 'But I'd still be too scared to live under a roof. The tent will have to do for now.'

Mr Jiang said his wife, father, a son and daughter-in-law all died when a landslide wiped out their village. -- REUTERS