Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, holds a child while talking to quake survivors in a prefabricated house in Happy homeland, a temporary shelter, in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.

Chen Fusen considers himself lucky to be alive, and luckier to be living in a room, instead of a crowded tent.

The 57-year-old pensioner and 915 other quake survivors have just moved into Happy Homeland, the first prefabricated shelter, in Dujiangyan, an hour's drive from Chengdu, provincial capital of Sichuan.

And only three people share a room. So Chen's mother, wife and daughter share one room, while he lives next door.

His two bicycles are the only valuables he has in the 12-sq-m room. In fact, they are the only valuables he could salvage from his collapsed house. An old wooden cabinet that his friend gave him lies in the middle of the room, and a double bed and a bunk bed are placed side by side.

The new settlement will be spread across 50,000 sq m, more than 10,000 sq m of which was already completed in five days.

Dujiangyan is home to more than 200,000 people, so the entire settlement should be complete by Saturday.

The shelter provides basic but comprehensive facilities, including a school, canteens, supermarkets, clinics, toilets and a police post.

"I just grabbed several quilts and rushed out of my house before it collapsed," says Chen. And though he has just 40 yuan left in his pocket, he shows no signs of worry.

The government has provided the basic articles of daily use, Chen says. Besides, the daily meals are free. "I'm very lucky to be here."

Lan Youcheng, a manager in Happy Homeland, says three kinds of people have been moved into these shelters: those who have lost their homes, those who have lost all their belongings, and those who do not have any income.

The 100-sq-m community kitchen in a canteen has stainless steel utensils. Vegetables, cleaned and processed, are transported from outside. And the city's education bureau, says Lan, has been given the task of maintaining hygienic standards in the kitchen.

Standing in the open and eating from a lunch box, Lan says the homeland's administrators are not allowed to eat in the canteens.