A year after the Sichuan earthquake devastated huge swathes of southwest China, life is slowly returning to normal, but concerns over corruption continue to overshadow the reconstruction effort.

As survivors mark Tuesday's first anniversary of the disaster, in which 87,000 people were killed or left missing, officials are struggling to provide for the uprooted and the unemployed, and people are growing impatient.

"The central government policies have been great. They have done a lot for everyone," said Zhang Yongfang, 48, a restaurant worker in Dujiangyan, a city where entire streets full of buildings were flattened.

"It's just the lower-level officials who are no good."

Residents have accused local officials of corruption and embezzling relief funds that have been streaming into the disaster zone since the May 12 tragedy, the worst natural disaster to hit the nation in 30 years.

Large protests erupted in the weeks after the quake over the thousands of teachers and students who were killed when their schools collapsed, with many blaming corrupt building practices for the high death toll.

The energy released at the epicentre of the 8.0-magnitude quake was equivalent to 400 of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima, according to some estimates, and a mountainous region the size of South Korea was affected.

The consequences are likely to be felt for years to come. About 1.5 million homes have yet to be completely rebuilt, and 200,000 people made jobless by the disaster have still not found employment, according to government data.

The emotional scars may never heal.

"Everyone here has felt the tragedy. We've seen a lot of friends and family killed," said Zhang.

She was quick to praise the government's response in the hours and days after the quake, including soldiers sent to dig survivors out of collapsed buildings and deliver badly needed aid and supplies.

"This was a natural disaster, and there is not a lot you can do in such a situation other than make the best of it," the tall and gaunt Zhang said outside of her dumpling shop near a condemned building due to be torn down.

The shock of the devastation caused by the quake, a few months ahead of the Beijing Olympics, galvanised the entire nation. The government reacted quickly while donations poured in from all parts of China and the world.

Chinese citizens went to the quake zone spontaneously, in what some saw as a powerful sign of the growing power of civil society in the world's most populous country.

But some locals remain critical of the government's efforts.

"(President) Hu Jintao, (Premier) Wen Jiabao all have come to Sichuan and they are promising a lot of things and praising officials for their efforts," a crippled man in the city of Mianzhu surnamed Li told AFP.

"I'm afraid that the reality is quite different."

China has acknowledged abuse of some relief funds and supplies but has largely downplayed the issue, saying there have been no major problems and providing few details.

The government, which so far has invested over 360 billion yuan (53 billion dollars) in reconstruction programmes, is also footing the bill for vulnerable groups including the elderly, handicapped and orphaned children.

"Basic importance should be attached to the livelihood of the people -- expediting reconstruction of livelihood projects should be regarded as the top priority," provincial spokesman Yu Wei told journalists.

"The satisfaction of and recognition by the people should be regarded as the criterion to judge the progress and quality of the reconstruction task."

Authorities have sought to prevent journalists from interviewing survivors outside of officially sanctioned reporting opportunities, in what appears to be an effort to prevent the residents speaking about corruption and unpaid aid.

Hou Xiongfei, Sichuan's vice head of propaganda, last week accused Western journalists of seeking to incite quake victims into anti-government protests.

In Wufu village, where the collapse of the Fuxin primary school led to angry protests over shoddy construction, residents who spoke to AFP this week said all concerned -- the government included -- wanted to put the past behind them.

"People are trying to move on with their lives," said one man who was earning a living making aluminium window frames.

"The government wants to put an end to this issue," he said, before local officials arrived and ordered AFP journalists to leave the village.