Lessons from Sichuan earthquake must not be forgotten
Ten years ago today, 87,000 people were killed, 370,000 injured and 5 million made homeless in a national catastrophe that united the country in compassion for the suffering and loss, and reflected the heartbreaking price of sacrificing building standards
May 12, 2008, dawned with China counting down the days to the Beijing Olympic Games, a proudly anticipated celebration of the country’s emergence on the world stage.
The Olympic torch relay had already passed through Hong Kong on its way to Beijing. Within a week it was to be suspended by a grieving nation for three days of national mourning.
Mid-afternoon on this day 10 years ago, with children in classrooms and people at work, a magnitude 8 earthquake seared the date into the national psyche. Radiating from the epicentre in Wenchuan county in southwestern Sichuan province, shock waves destroyed entire cities, towns and villages, collapsed schools and reshaped the landscape.
Amid thousands of aftershocks, it took relief teams three days to reach the epicentre. About 87,000 people perished – including more than 5,000 children – with 370,000 injured and about 5 million left homeless.
Three months before its “coming out” for the Olympics, China now found itself confronting a worst-case pre-Games scenario – a national catastrophe. Within 24 hours the authorities dispatched 20,000 troops to the disaster zone, a figure that grew to more than 100,000 by day three. Beijing soon realised that China could not handle the disaster without help.
