The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (Chinese: 四川大地震), which measured at 8.0
Ms according to the 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 (Chinese: 汶川大地震), after the earthquake's
epicenter in
Wenchuan County in 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.
[5] The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries.
Official figures (as of May 22, 10:00 CST) state that 51,151 are confirmed dead, including 50,651 in Sichuan province, and 288,431 injured.
[4] Tens of thousands are missing, approximately 14,000 of them buried, and eight
provinces were affected.
[6] The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless.
[7] It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the
1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000 people.