China warns of post-quake hardship as winter nears

BEIJING (Reuters) - China faces tough tasks rebuilding homes and roads across its earthquake-hit southwest as winter approaches, Premier Wen Jiabao said near the epicenter of the devastating May 12 quake.

During a visit on Tuesday marking 110 days since the tremor flattened towns and villages in Sichuan province, Wen said the number of people known to have died in the disaster had passed 80,000, the People's Daily reported on Wednesday.

The government has poured in troops and aid to help survivors, many living in tents and flimsy temporary homes, but Wen warned reviving the mountainous region would take a long time.

Asked what the most pressing tasks were, Wen said repairing or replacing damaged and collapsed homes and rebuilding roads.

"An even more beautiful Sichuan will be built by our hands," he said.

Coping with the cold would pose problems, said Wen, who won admiration from citizens for his urgent, sometimes teary response, to the scenes of collapsed schools and homes shortly after the quake hit.

China is also coping with the aftermath of another quake in the southwest on Saturday that killed 38 people. The quake hit the mountainous border between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

The region has suffered hundreds of smaller but alarming tremors in past months.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)