The 2008 Sichuan earthquake "Great Sichuan Earthquake", 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.
It was also known as the Wenchuan earthquake after the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County, Sichuan province. The epicenter was 80 kilometres west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, with a depth of 19 kilometres.The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries and felt as far away as both Beijing and Shanghai1,500 kilometres and 1,700 kilometres away where office buildings swayed with the tremor.
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 was 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.
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.
All of the highways into Wenchuan, and others throughout Sichuan province, were damaged, resulting in delayed arrival of the rescue troops. In Beichuan county, 80% of the buildings collapsed according to Xinhua News. In the city of Shifang, the collapse of two chemical plants led to leakage of some 80 tons of liquid ammonia, with hundreds of people reported buried. In the city of Dujiangyan, south-east of the epicenter, a whole school collapsed with 900 students buried and 50 dead. The Juyuan Middle School, where many teenagers were buried, was excavated by civilians and cranes. Dujiangyan is home of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, an ancient water diversion project which is still in use and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The project's famous Fish Mouth was cracked but not severely damaged otherwise.
No matter how,sichuan people are strong and they can recover from the suffer.Thanks to the support from all over the word.With love things become better.