Hundreds of survivors of an earthquake that killed nearly 200 people in southwest China pushed into traffic on a main road yesterday, waving protest signs, demanding help and shouting at police.

No place to sleep, nothing to eat. No one is paying any attention to us

“We are in the open air here. No place to sleep, nothing to eat. No one is paying any attention to us,” said Peng Qiong, 45, a farmer from Chaoyang village on the outskirts of Lushan, near the epicentre.

China has poured resources into Sichuan since the magnitude 6.6 quake hit early on Saturday, including one billion yuan (€124 million) for disaster relief and compensation. About 18,000 troops are in the area.

But while many have praised the government for its swift response, growing anger among some survivors underscores the government’s challenge in an area that also bore the brunt of a 7.9 earthquake in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

Mountainous terrain and poor infrastructure have made reaching victims difficult. The Xinhua news agency said aftershocks had triggered landslides that blocked a main road.

Saturday’s earthquake killed 192 people, left 23 missing, and injured more than 11,000, state media said.

For more than two days, 40-year-old farmer Tian Kuanqian has watched as emergency vehicles have passed his wrecked village by.

“If they continue to ignore us like we are trivial, we will have no choice but to protest,” he said.

“It’s been three days and we haven’t seen noodles or water. What we need are tents,” Tian added.

In some cases, roads closed to non-emergency traffic were clogged with government vehicles. On the way to Baoxing, a heavily damaged area about 40 kilometres from Lushan, idling ambulances, troop transporters, construction vehicles and buses for relief workers blocked both lanes of the road, making access possible only on foot or by weaving motorcycles.

A police officer in Chaoyang, trying to calm protesters on the road, said the authorities were doing all they could.