Sitting on a hill overlooking the ruins of Yingxiu , a small group of former residents explained why they had returned to the abandoned town, devastated by the earthquake more than three weeks ago. 'They're digging out the dead,' a woman said, as an excavator perched on a pile of rubble smashed concrete and twisted steel. Another said: 'I'm waiting for my younger brother.' In other parts of the disaster zone in Sichuan province , armies of workers and soldiers are repairing damaged infrastructure and demolishing unsafe buildings. Cities of temporary housing for displaced people have sprung up seemingly overnight. In Yingxiu, Wenchuan county, near the epicentre of the quake that killed more than 69,000 people, they are still trying to find the dead, illustrating how much work remains to recover from the disaster. Relatives dressed in camouflage army uniforms distributed by the government had waited since morning, occasionally crying and anxiously peering into a former karaoke establishment for evidence of three victims. An orange kitten, meowing constantly, was among the few living things still left in the ruins. In late afternoon, a shout went up from a worker as two bodies coated with grey dust came to light on the site. The relatives of 18-year-old Lian Rui , one of the missing, sobbed and his father fell to the ground. 'My son, I miss you,' he cried. A team from the local headquarters quickly arrived and one reported back to base: 'We have part of a body.' Workers had been appropriating body bags for trash collection, but now they needed them for their intended use. Nearby, workers manipulated an enormous scoop attached to the mechanical arm of another excavator, carrying out the same task on a house. 'Gently, gently,' said one soldier, part of a detail from Aba prefecture recovering bodies. Elsewhere, a few returned residents picked through their old homes, scavenging what they could and carting off in baskets strapped to their backs quilts that they claim the army had abandoned. Yingxiu, which formerly had a population of about 12,000, was the gateway for tourism to ethnically diverse Aba prefecture and the Wolong Nature Reserve, home of the giant panda. The town is now mostly abandoned, except for a construction company that has put up some temporary housing for the military. Li Ying stood in the back of a flatbed truck next to a pile of clothes that belonged to her dead husband, a teacher at Xuankou Middle School, which collapsed. 'Not many came out. They haven't dug them out,' she said, estimating that only about 100 students escaped, of more than 1,000. The last time she saw her husband, she cooked him a meal of spicy pork before he went off to school. After the earthquake, she camped by a stream for three days before the army evacuated residents, most by motorboat. Among the living, the psychological damage remains. Ms Li sometimes believes she still feels the ground shake, and images of the injured schoolchildren haunt her. She admitted she had contemplated suicide and said she now lived only for her daughter and the hope that her husband's remains will be recovered. Experts say recovery of the missing is an important part of the healing process for relatives. 'It is very important for the psychological recovery of survivors to have their dead relatives returned to them for culturally appropriate rites and disposal,' the World Health Organisation has said. Qiao Lin gave up for the day. After directing the excavator to her sister's home, she waited below for hours. The discovery of a wooden box with the possessions of her sister's family raised her hopes, but their bodies were not found. 'This is hers,' she said, shifting through papers. So the search continues. A worker on the body detail, asked how he could stand the task, said: 'There is no other way. This is a natural disaster.' But his eyes briefly filled with tears, despite the blunt words. At a glance 69,122 confirmed dead 17,991 missing 373,606 injured 43.68b yuan in donations received from home and abroad SOURCE: XINHUA