Safety checks are to be carried out at schools across China after last month's devastating earthquake.

The 7.9 magnitude quake killed nearly 87,000 people and left millions more homeless. At least 9,000 children died when schools crumbled, while many surrounding buildings stood firm.

"Local governments must carry out a thorough quality check on the public facilities from kindergartens to universities, like school buildings, dorms and public bathrooms," a notice on the Ministry of Education website said.

"For these potentially dangerous buildings, we must stop using them and set up a database for future research."

Buildings constructed before 2001 would be paid special attention, the notice added.

Grieving parents have sought in vain for answers to why so many schools collapsed in the quake.

Lin Qiang, vice inspector of the Sichuan provincial educational department, said last month that collapsed buildings might have been more solid "if we educational officials hadn't left loopholes for corruption".

On Tuesday, China declared victory over an unstable "quake lake" as floodwaters were released downstream, where hundreds of thousands had been under threat of a second crisis.

Waters poured out of the Tangjiashan lake, the largest of more than 30 formed when landslides triggered by the earthquake dammed rivers, after soldiers blasted away rocks, mud and other rubble blocking its path along a sluice.

Water levels downstream in Mianyang had dropped on Wednesday after a torrent of muddy water rushed through the town.

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