The walled police complex and surrounding area are heavily guarded and buzzing with preparations: cracked walls are fixed and modest barracks furnished to host heads of state. The tiny airport has been expanded and so has the local hospital, which was heavily damaged in the quake.

Officials say the airport improvements will eventually help relaunch tourism in the area, and even the rooms that are expected to house more than 1,000 delegates and leaders, including Obama, will later house tent dwellers who are waiting for a roof the government has promised.

Other preparations raise eyebrows among residents: landscaping like the emblem decorating the way to the summit, or the construction of a two-lane road to connect the airport to the isolated venue — a route, locals say, unlikely to be of use in the future.

"The people of L'Aquila see roads and other infrastructure being built for the G-8 and then look at their houses that are still in ruins," says Alessandro Tettamanti, a spokesman for 3:32, a citizens group named after the time the quake struck.

Some fear the summit will actually draw attention away from the locals.

"The TV cameras will be pointed at the heads of state, not at us," says Fabrizio Pambianchi, a cook who lives in a tent camp with his wife and two children. "Resources are being expended for this show and not for the earthquake victims."

The Civil Protection, the government agency in charge of the rescue effort and the summit's organization, denies that the G-8 is hampering aid or damaging the cause of survivors.

"There is no risk of interference, we have two completely separate structures working on the reconstruction and the G-8," says Guido Bertolaso, the Civil Protection czar. "Obama and all the others will come here knowing that we have not been negligent for one minute in our commitment to the survivors."

Berlusconi won high marks for an efficient rescue effort after the quake, but discontent over reconstruction plans is growing. The conservative premier has pledged to rebuild L'Aquila and the other damaged towns. Meanwhile work goes on 24 hours a day to build temporary housing that Berlusconi has said will house all the homeless now living in tents by November.

In June, thousands of residents staged protests in l'Aquila and Rome, and their ranks are likely to swell with Italian and foreign activists expected for demonstrations planned in the area during the summit.

The government believes outside protesters will not dare vandalize the crippled city, and hopes to avoid or minimize the violent clashes that ended in the death of a protester and devastated the port city of Genoa the last time Italy hosted the summit in 2001.

Still, some survivors are looking to avoid any possible trouble.

"The G-8 won't solve our problems," says Loretta Tobia, a 38-year-old doctor who lost her house and lives with her husband and two children in their garage. "We're leaving that week, though I don't know where we'll go."