Sichuan Earthquake

May 12, 2008

On May 12th, at 14:28 local time (02:28 EDT), an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck China’s Sichuan province. The epicenter of the earthquake was about 50 miles northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu at a depth of twelve miles. The earthquake was felt over 1,000 miles away in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and other Asian capitals. Official figures from the Chinese government report that 69,197 people were killed and 374,176 were injured. Another 18,340 remain missing and more than 4.8 million people lost their homes. The earthquake was the deadliest to hit China since the Tangshan earthquake of 1976.

NC4 issued the first alert related to the earthquake at 02:40 EDT, about 12 minutes after the quake struck. More than 60 alerts have been issued since that time, including 20 on May 12th alone. The alerts tracked casualties, damage, aftershocks and the threats posed by blocked rivers.

Selected Updates

NC4 Incident Monitoring Center issued the following alerts:

• A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck in China's Sichuan province. Buildings shake in Beijing. 2008-05-12 02:40 EDT
  
  
• Nearly 900 students have been buried due to a massive 7.5 earthquake in Sichuan.
  2008-05-12 06:50 EDT
  

• Nearly 10,000 killed in Sichuan province alone following magnitude 7.9 earthquake. 2008-05-12 19:08 EDT
  

• China sends tens of thousands of troops to areas devastated by Monday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake.  2008-05-13 19:32 EDT
  
  
• Sunday's 6.1 aftershock killed at least 3 and injured over 1,000. Three days of mourning announced.  2008-05-18 17:19 EDT
  
  

 

Additional Resources
NC4 provides ongoing updates to members as the incident unfolds through the National Incident Monitoring Center (NIMC). NIMC analysts followed the incident using international and national government and media sources - linking to the Xinhua article, “China earthquake death toll rises to 68,977”.

One-page printable summary with graphics