Members of an international rescue team install water-purifying equipment yesterday in Mianzhu, Sichuan province.

Wang Fushan yesterday gave a big thumbs-up to the "white box" built in a cornfield next to his current home - a tent in the town of Jiulong, in the mountainous city of Mianzhu.

The box is actually a lavatory - a simple cube over a 2-m deep hole in the ground - the 36-year-old has dubbed the "English toilet".

"That's because it was built by people from the UK," Wang told China Daily at the eight-tent village he now calls home.

An international team, led by four British specialists in safe water and sanitation, with the emergency response unit of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been helping build toilets since the quake hit.

"We plan to build more than 400 toilets, enough for 20,000 people here in Jiulong and a neighboring township," Ina Bluemel, who heads the team, said.

Engineer Mujeeb Aktar said the toilet will be in use for several months until people move into temporary housing, which is under construction.

"They (the team) are doing us a big favor," Li Feng, Wang's wife, said.

"The toilet is tidy and clean and it has a door and a roof to shelter us," she said.

The previous toilet, which was shared by 40 people here, was disgusting, the 32-year-old said.

"In the morning and before going to bed, there was always a long queue," Yuan Li, 12, said.

"Sometimes, my little brothers just peed in the field."

"But that is how the health risk gets heightened," Bluemel said.