China's quake parents lament one month on

BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - Anguished parents on Thursdaymarked one month since China's devastating earthquake,demanding answers about flattened schools and beggingforgiveness from dead children buried under the rubble.

Two dozen parents gathered around a mound of concreteshards and twisted steel at what was a Beichuan school, one ofmany toppled by the quake even as government offices and homesnearby stayed upright.

A mother burned incense, ceremonial funeral money and apile of her late daughter's clothes on the rubble, while otherparents wailed apologies at children crushed under the ruins.

"Your mother is so sorry for this," cried the middle-agedmother of one girl, Chen Ya. "No. It was me. I'm so sorry,"said Chen's grandmother.

The parents' laments jarred with government efforts to passthe one-month date without major ceremony, focusing instead onrebuilding and messages of determined patriotic unity.

Few families in hard-hit parts of Sichuan province in thenation's southwest escaped losses among those killed in the May12 quake -- close to 70,000 according to the latest count, withmany thousands missing and likely dead.

Beichuan, a valley town with 30,000 residents, has beenabandoned, never to be rebuilt, with many dead entombed in itsrubble.

The thousands of crushed children have become the mostpolitically charged legacy of the disaster, distilling publicanger about corruption and lax regulation blamed for shoddyschool buildings.

"They said this building was strong and quake-proof, butwhen we saw it, the concrete was like talcum powder and thesteel was as thin as noodles," said Mu Qibing, whose17-year-old son was killed along with some 1,200 other pupils.

The ruins of another school at Juyuan were guarded bydozens of police, and the town 50 km (30 miles) from theprovince capital, Chengdu, blocked by checkpoints barringforeign reporters.

A planned memorial by parents of hundreds of children whodied there was blocked by police who went door to door warningthem to stay away, several parents said.

"All we want to do is remember them this day," Zhao Deqin,a mother whose 15-year-old twin daughters, Yajia and Yaqi,died.

At a flattened school in Wufu, where hundreds of childrenalso died, about 80 parents held a brief memorial ceremony inthe rain, some of them said by telephone.

"We gathered to remember our children and to pressure thegovernment for answers," said one of those parents, Shang Jun,whose son Shang Xingping died in the quake.

"We don't want compensation. We want to see the corruptofficials who let this happen pay for their crimes."

PUBLIC SUPPORT

For other residents of this lush region of rice paddies andbamboo thickets, the one-month date began as just another dayin what will be a long struggle to cope with sweltering,crowded tent camps and worries over jobs and education.

The government's response to the quake, with a sweepingrelief operation and storm of patriotic propaganda, has so farwon widespread public support. But as the vast rebuilding phasebegins, the government is sure to be tested by victims'impatience for new lives.

Homeless residents face a sweltering summer in tentedcamps, lining up for food, clothes and whatever arrives on aidtrucks. Soon, many will move into thousands of pre-fabricatedhuts rising quickly across the region.

In this poor farm country, where education is prized as anescape to prosperity, displaced parents said they worried aboutthe disruption to surviving children's schooling.

Confinement to quake camps has also cut many people offfrom farms, jobs and business. And for many, day-to-dayhardships have, for now, overshadowed mourning.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)