The Sichuan earthquake was a 8.0 Richter Scale earthquake occurred at 2:28 PM on May 12, 2008 in southwest China. It is also known as the Wenchuan earthquake after the location of the earthquake's epicenter, Wenchuan (population 111,800) , 90 km northwest of Sichuan's capital Chengdu.

The epicenter of the quake was located 31.0 degrees north latitude and 103.4 degrees east longitude.

It was the deadliest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people.

Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at Dujiangyan, a city northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu on May 12, and started to oversee disaster relief work. The city was less than 100 kilometers from the quake's epicenter at Wenchuan County.

The death toll from the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province and its neighboring region as of September 18, 2008 was 69,227, according to the State Council Information Office.

The numbers of people listed as missing and injured were 17,923 and 374,643 respectively.

As of September 18, 2008, a total of 1,486,407 quake-affected people had been relocated. Among 96,544 persons who were hospitalized for injury, 93,459 had been discharged. The government spending on disaster relief and reconstruction had topped 67.556 billion yuan (about 9.88 billion U.S. dollars), including 60.087 billion yuan from the central budget and 7.469 billion yuan from the local budget. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, domestic and foreign donations had reached 59.391 billion yuan in cash and goods. Of this, 26.88 billion yuan had been forwarded to quake-hit areas.

About 1.58 million tents, 4.87 million quilts, 14.1 million garments, 3.93 million tonnes of fuel and 8.4 million tonnes of coal had been sent to the quake-hit areas.

Relief workers have built 677,131 temporary houses for relocated people.

In the 72 hours ending September 18, 2008, 500 aftershocks at or below magnitude 3.9 were monitored in the quake zone, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

A total of 30,235 aftershocks had been detected since May 12.

A total of 471,846 tonnes of grain and 12,013 tonnes of cooking oil have been allocated to the quake zones from central reserves as of September 18, 2008.

Of the 53,295 km of roads damaged in the quake, 52,994 km had been restored.

And 128,138 of the 138,960 business outlets damaged by the quake had been reopened.

As of September 18, 2008, 207,547 quake-affected people had been organized to work outside of the quake zone, while another 842,399people had found jobs in their hometowns.

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