The coming cold of winter is about to worsen the plight of China's quake survivors, who are still trying to rebuild their homes and lives.

Tang Chengyi lost his house on May 12, when the devastating earthquake triggered a landslide in his village in Nanba Town, Sichuan Province.

The 54-year-old has been building a temporary house for his family, including his mother, wife and two children.

"My family will soon have a warmer place to get through the winter," Tang said. He has been working on the wooden house for more than a month and expects to finish it in a few more days.

The landslide buried Tang's small manganese mine. He said the only thing he had left to rebuild his family's life were his hands.

He said he was putting up a temporary shelter with the government subsidy received by those in his village.

Each family was eligible for 2,000 yuan (US$290), which would pay for a simple wooden structure, said local official Li Hanjun.

"We will help every resident move out of tents and into warmer housing before the spring festival," he said.

Li said the government had been working to reopen the roads connecting remote villages to the outside world.

The government had also tried to purchase sufficient building materials and find safe sites for new, permanent houses.

"It's not easy," Li said. "The whole province has been facing material shortages."

Official statistics show more than 11 million people in the province need food, more than 3 million need warm clothes and quilts and 270,000 need medical care.

Deputy director of the provincial department of civil affairs Chen Kefu said the initial severity of the situation had been eased by the efforts of the whole country.

Still, the quake zone lacked many things, and many people faced spending the winter in tents that had been hastily put up in the summer, according to Chen.

More than 4 million yuan, 4 million garments and 770,000 quilts had been donated to the province as of early November. Another 2.8 million quilts and 2.9 million garments will be donated nationwide.

Other relief goods, including electric blankets and electric heaters, would be handed out within a month, officials said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2008)