Putin visited the village last Friday to inspect the damage, and was confronted by a rare display of anger at the government's slow response to the disaster.

A video of the heckling was posted on the Internet, and the total destruction of Verkhnyaya Vereya, located in the Nizhny Novgorod region around 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of Moscow, has become a symbol of the disaster.

Officials say 11 people died in the village, but residents say the toll was higher.

Putin responded to the criticism by promising villagers that all their homes would be rebuilt by November, before the arrival of the cold Russian winter.

On Tuesday, the prime minister said that he would personally oversee all reconstruction work in the country, using cameras to be installed on building sites.

Gathering outside the government office in neighbouring Vilya to hear news of the reconstruction Wednesday, with smoke from the fires still hanging heavy in the air, villagers described how quickly Putin's words were being turned into action.

"They are already preparing the building works for the reconstruction", said Lyuba Shumilina, who is staying with friends until her home is rebuilt.

"It's Putin who said it, and when he says something, he does it," she said.

Mikhail, who is unemployed and being sheltered in a children's holiday camp, was confident that Putin's November deadline would be met.

"The decision was made by Putin, and I believe him," said Mikhail, who would not give his family name.

"After Putin's visit, people came here to prepare operations and clearance work will begin tomorrow," he said.

Arman Arsoyan, who works in the timber industry, shared the confident mood.

"Putin said destroyed houses would be rebuilt, and they will be," he said.

"Everything will be ready by October 25, I heard it on television. And it will be better than it was before."

According to Shumilina, improvements had been planned in the village before the fires swept through, but the fire -- and the visit by Putin -- means the timetable has been brought forward.

"The new house will have gas and a sewage system, which it didn't have before. These facilities were already planned, but after what has happened and with the reconstruction, we will get it sooner," she said.

But others remained more circumspect.

"I want to believe it," said Galina Astrakhantseva, who is staying in the housing of the metal works where her husband works. "But for the moment, I don't know anything more."

The week-long crisis showed no sign of abating Wednesday as the heatwave affecting swathes of the country lingered.

The Russian emergencies ministry said hundreds of new fires had started over the past day and more bodies were found, raising the death toll to 48.

earlier related report
August a cursed month for Russia
Moscow (AFP) Aug 4, 2010 - From forest fires, coups and financial crises to war and disasters, August is traditionally a cursed month for Russians, marked by dramatic events for their country.

This August has been no exception, with deadly forest fires ravaging tens of thousands of hectares in the western part of the country, killing 48 in regions which have lived through an unprecedented heatwave since early July.

Here are some previous events in August which have marked Russia:

- August 17, 2009: A sudden flood at Russia's largest hydroelectric facility, the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in the Khakassia region, kills 75.

On the same day the Russian navy boards, off Cape Verde, the Arctic Sea cargo ship which had mysteriously disappeared three weeks earlier between the Baltic and the Atlantic.

There are also four suicide attacks in the Russian Caucasus during the month.

- August 8, 2008: Georgia launches a military offensive against its separatist pro-Russian province of South Ossetia and Russia responds by sending massive numbers of troops to Georgia. Moscow then recognises the independence of South Ossetia and that of the province of Abkhazia.

- August 24, 2004: Two attacks on Russian aircraft kill 90 and come just ahead of the bloody hostage-taking in Beslan by pro-Chechen commandos in early September, in which more than 330 die.

- August 8, 2002: 60 die in violent rainfall on Russia's Black Sea coast, amid storms in several European countries.

- August 27, 2000: The Ostankino telecommunications tower in northern Moscow, Russia's voice to the world and the tallest free-standing structure in Europe, is severely damaged in a fire.

- August 12, 2000: The nuclear submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea with 118 crew, who all perished in Russia's worst naval disaster.

- August 8, 2000: A blast in a busy underpass on Moscow's Pushkin square kills 13 people and wounds 120 others.

- August, 1999: Chechen rebels begin a series of attacks on neighbouring Dagestan which leads to the Russians' return to Chechnya in October.

- August 17, 1998: A financial crash erupts leading to a massive ruble devaluation, with tens of thousands of savers and dozens of banks ruined.

- August 19-21, 1991: A failed putsch seals the fate of the Soviet Union, stripping its leader Mikhail Gorbachev of real power and setting his nemesis, the recently elected Russian president Boris Yeltsin, firmly on the road to the Kremlin. This leads to the Soviet Union collapsing in December.

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