An earthquake,
magnitude 8.0, struck Sichuan province of China at 2:28PM, May 12, 2008. The epicenter of the earthquake, Wenchuan, is about 90 miles from
Chengdu.
The earthquake released
more energy than 500 atomic bombs, 30 times more than the Kobe
earthquake in Japan, 1995. Official
figures (as of June 18) state that 69,176 are confirmed
dead, including 68,636 in Sichuan province, and 374,142
injured, with 17,415 listed as missing.
The
earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless, though the
number could be as high as 11 million. 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.
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