Perched at more than 12,000 feet on the Tibetan plateau and battered by long, punishing winters, Yushu is a 17-hour drive from the nearest city of any significance, Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai. Those not felled by altitude sickness en route are often incapacitated, albeit briefly, soon after they arrive.

According to the state news media, the government marshaled 100,000 contract workers to clear debris, lay waterlines and build new houses and high-rise apartment blocks that have been trimmed with colorful Tibetan flourishes. Given that most of the victims were ethnic Tibetans — Yushu Prefecture is 97 percent Tibetan — the disaster provided Chinese leaders a showcase to demonstrate its munificent side to a citizenry often at odds with its Han-dominated government.

But in interviews over four days last month, many Yushu residents were especially vocal about inequities in the distribution of new housing. Government employees and Communist Party members, many said, had ended up with several new apartments each, while ordinary households with up to a dozen family members were squeezed into cramped, three-room apartments.

An elderly Tibetan couple said the government had confiscated their plot of land, including 13 quake-damaged rental properties, and provided them with a single 850-square-foot home for their two children and a 10-year-old granddaughter orphaned by the disaster. “We relied on the income from those homes to support our family,” said Beizan, a retired government employee originally from Sichuan Province, adding that he lacked the political connections to fight back. “I guess we are out of luck.”

Late last month, the authorities bulldozed several Tibetan-owned brick factories in Yushu at the behest of Han kiln owners who were reportedly unhappy with the competition, according to Radio Free Asia, the American-financed news service.

Tibetans are not the only ones who feel shortchanged. Han business owners complain about skyrocketing rents, erratic power supplies and a dearth of customers. The tourists and businesses that residents hoped would materialize after the rebuilding have not appeared. The difficulty in luring qualified professionals to the city means that the new 400-bed Yushu Prefecture People’s Hospital is struggling to fill 600 job vacancies, according to the state-run Xinhua news service.

Another common complaint, especially among downtown merchants, is the lack of public bathrooms, a planning oversight they said had turned parts of the city into open-air toilets.