Two weeks after the earthquake that wrecked Sichuan and China's survivors are struggling to do more than just survive.

Many have little to live for and very little to live in.

Zhang Wenqin has suffered unimaginable loss. The devastating earthquake that shook central China's Sichuan province killed her mother, flattened her apartment and ravaged her hometown.

"For the first two days, we only had an umbrella and we sat underneath the trees at night," Zhang Wenqin says.

Now, Mrs Zhang expects to be in DuJiangYan's tent city for months. She has the basics here, though simple tasks demand patience.

Survivors line up for more than an hour to receive a hot meal.

Mrs Zhang and her daughter escaped with just the clothes on their backs and a few prized photographs, but they are the lucky ones. Millions have no shelter at all.

In the town of Jiangyou, beach tents are being used to house the homeless. But Lin Zhenyan and her husband are not complaining because at least they have each other. They lost their friends and their neighbours in just a few minutes when a landslide buried their home.

"We don't expect much more than shelter from the sun and the rain," Lin Zhenyan said.

Their requests might be modest, but the government's task is not. It is struggling to provide an estimated 3.3 million tents to those in need.

China has diverted all construction funding, often used for new skyscrapers, but will now just be used to help people survive.