The nineteenth deadliest earthquake of all time, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, or "Great Sichuan Earthquake", or most commonly in western reportage, the Chengdu quake, which measured at 8.0 Ms and 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST (06:28:01.42 UTC) on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China and by any name killed at least 69,000 less than three months before China hosted the world in the 2008 Summer Olympics. As well, the earthquake hit only hours after the Olympic Torch was carried through the city.
It was also known as the Wenchuan earthquake, after the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County, 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). The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries and felt as far away as both Beijing and Shanghai ¡ª 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) and 1,700 kilometres (1,056 mi) away ¡ª where office buildings swayed with the tremor. |
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Official figures (as of July 21, 2008 12:00 CST) state that 69,227 are confirmed dead, including 68,636 in Sichuan province, and 374,176 injured, with 18,222 listed as missing. The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless, though the number could be as high as 11 million. Approximately 15 million people lived in the affected area. It is the deadliest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people, and the strongest since the 1950 Chayu earthquake in the country, which registered at 8.5 on Richter magnitude scale.
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Strong aftershocks, some exceeding magnitude 6, continue to hit the area even months after the main quake, causing new casualties and damage.
On 6 November 2008, the central government announced that it will spend 1 trillion yuan (about $146.5 billion) over the next three years to rebuild areas ravaged by the earthquake.
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