A local official in Sichuan province withdrew from the prestigious Olympics torch relay as "atonement" for construction problems at collapsed schools, even as rescuers battled rain, lakes and chemicals in the aftermath of the devastating May 12th earthquake.
Thousands of the quake's victims were children, killed when schools collapsed. Inspectors have taken samples of rubble to see if shoddy construction material was used.
Lin Qiang, vice inspector of the Sichuan provincial educational department, said collapsed buildings might have been more solid "if we educational officials hadn't left loopholes for corruption", according to the official Xinhua news agency.
He withdrew as torch bearer in the torch relay currently snaking around China before the August Olympic Games.
The death toll from the 7.9 magnitude quake is over 68,500 and is certain to rise further, with 20,000 missing. Aftershocks have toppled 420,000 houses, most already uninhabitable.
The massive reconstruction work has only just begun, and survivors are threatened by "quake lakes", formed by landslides, that could burst and flood downstream towns and dams.
The Finance Ministry has funnelled an extra 1 billion yuan into relief work on an estimated 35 dangerous lakes formed by landslides, in addition to 400 million yuan already alloted to work on smaller, damaged dams.
China has evacuated more than 150,000 people living below the biggest of the quake lakes at Tangjiashan. It was created when landslides blocked the Jianjiang river above Beichuan, near the epicentre.
About 5,000 tonnes of chemicals, including sulphuric and hydrochloric acid, were moved out from downstream, media said.
The danger posed by chemicals was shown today, when rain-soaked bags of disinfectant chlorine erupted in caustic, billowing smoke, injuring eight paramilitary police in Beichuan.