2008
According to Chinese state officials, the quake caused 69,180 known deaths including 68,636 in Sichuan province; 18,498 people are listed as missing, and 374,176 injured, but these figures may further increase as more reports come in.
[12][78][
needs update] This estimate includes 158 earthquake relief workers who were killed in landslides as they tried to repair roads.
[79]...
In terms of school casualties, thousands of school children died due to shoddy construction. In
Mianyang City, seven schools collapsed, burying at least 1,700 people. At least 7,000 school buildings throughout the province collapsed. Another 700 students were buried in a school in Hanwang. At least 600 students and staff died at Juyuan Elementary School. Up to 1,300 children and teachers died at
Beichuan Middle School.
[85] According to
Tan Zuoren, 5,600 pupils were dead or missing from the 64 schools Tan investigated in the quake zone. Tan was detained after he published such a casualties number.
[86].....
An article in
Science suggested that the construction and filling of the
Zipingpu Dam may have triggered the earthquake.
[197] The chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau said that the sudden shift of a huge quantity of water into the region could have relaxed the tension between the two sides of the fault, allowing them to move apart, and could have increased the direct pressure on it, causing a violent rupture. The effect was "25 times more" than a year's worth of natural stress from tectonic movement. The government had disregarded warnings about so many large-scale dam projects in a seismically active area. Researchers have been denied access to seismological and geological data to examine the cause of the quake further.
[198][199][200]
2008 Sichuan earthquake - Wikipedia
