In Dujiangyan, Li Shirong huddled with his extended family under plastic sheeting, taking inventory of their food supply. The family of seven had three bags of instant noodles.
"We will let the children eat first and drink what's left of the soup," he said.
As for water, he pointed with resignation to the meandering river that had turned an ominous brown from mudslides after Monday's earthquake, the worst in the country in three decades. "We would never drink that water if we were not desperate."
Elsewhere, residents said the situation was especially tough for people unable to make it to the center of town to seek help.
"I heard the government is passing out water and crackers, but we have not seen a thing," said Liu Zhiyun, 77, who had carried his blind, 75-year-old wife down three flights of stairs to safety. "In three days I ate one bag of instant noodles. This morning I got a bucket and caught some rainwater to drink."
Wang Zhenjun, who is 92, said she was caring for her 95-year-old husband.
"You have to fight for the handouts," she said. "We are in our 90s. How can we do that?"
Doctors said that with hospitals destroyed and pharmacies buried in rubble, medicine was in short supply. They said they needed emergency medical kits, and medicines for colds, diarrhea and high blood pressure. What little they had they salvaged at great risk by climbing into damaged buildings. They also worried about the poor sanitation.
"The current living condition is very harsh, people's immunity is low, and they are living in crowded quarters. It is very easy for contagious disease to spread," said Wang Yongcheng, a doctor standing outside the blue rescue tents in the middle of town.
The official death toll rose to 14,866, a figure almost certain to increase given that nearly twice that number remained buried under rubble in Sichuan province alone.
Disaster relief officials say their efforts have been slowed by destroyed roads and bridges, landslides and rain. Much of the aid has had to be delivered by risky airdrops, while rescue workers were traveling by foot.
Thousands of Chinese soldiers raced to repair the "extremely dangerous" cracks in the Zipingpu dam, the official New China News Agency said, and experts later declared it was safe.
At a stadium in the Mianyang area, more than 10,000 people gathered to search for relatives, find temporary housing, collect some food and find some comfort amid the terrifying aftershocks. Some of the overflow crowd was housed in dozens of emergency tents outside the stadium.
