2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake which measured at 8.0 Ms[6] and 8.3 Mw[7] according to PRC's China Seismological Bureau, and 7.9 Mw according to USGS, occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST (06:28:01.42 UTC) on 12 May 2008 in Sichuan province of China. It was also known as the Wenchuan earthquake after the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. The epicenter was 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, with a depth of 19 kilometres (12 mi).[2] The earthquake was felt as far away as Beijing (1,500 km away) and Shanghai (1,700 km away), where office buildings swayed with the tremor.[8] The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries.
Official figures (as of June 8, 12:00 CST) state that 69,136 are confirmed dead, including 68,620 in Sichuan province, and 374,061 injured, with 17,686 listed as missing.[5] The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless,[9] though the number could be as high as 11 million.[10] It is the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people. Approximately 15 million people lived in the affected area.
On May 25, a major aftershock of 6.0 Mw hit northeast of the original earthquake's epicenter, in Qingchuan County, causing eight deaths, 1000 injuries, and destroying thousands of buildings.[11] On May 27, two more major aftershocks, a 5.2 Mw in Qingchuan County and a 5.7 Mw in Ningqiang in Shaanxi Province, led to the collapse of more than 420,000 homes and injured 63 people.[12]
