Day 9, May 20 2008, Tuesday

Death toll: 40,075
Injury toll: 247, 645
Missing toll: 32, 361
Aftershocks measuring over 4 on Richter scale : 159

Donations in cash and kind received from the Chinese public: 1.39 billion yuan (US$ 199 million)
Donations in cash received from the Chinese public: 1.25 billion yuan (US$ 179 million)

Supplies despatched to the affected areas by the government and military ( source: Xinhua)
Tents: 278, 462
Blankets: 783, 984
Warm coats: 1.783 million


Dogs are a woman's best friend

196 hours and that was how long one 60-year-old woman survived. If 196 means little at first glance, what about considering it is almost 5 whole days after the 72-hour window after which experts say the chances of survival are minimal? Her survival is nothing short of phenomenal.

Wang Youxiong had arrived from Chengdu to pay her respects at a local Buddhist temple on April 30, almost two weeks before the quake. She decided to stay for a month more, before going back to celebrate China's Children's Day with her grandson on June 1.

When the quake struck, she was at the temple, and had been fine until a gush of concrete rushed by her and trapped her between two big rocks. For the last eight days she had been subsisting on rain water. Two dogs kept her company, constantly licking her face and lips and kept barking. And it was upon hearing these dogs that the rescuers reached Wang.

Wang was in an astonishingly conscious state after being saved. She even managed to relay her son's mobile phone number to nurses, an amazing feat considering here in China, they consist of 11 digits. Her son was contacted. After days of visiting the area, posting notices on various media, he finally got the call he had been waiting for.

And according to Wang, it had been the thought of her son and two grandchildren that kept her going.

Another man too survived for 178 hours. Pulled out from Ying Xiu township, he appeared to be conscious and was even able to relay his family's contact number to rescuers. In this township alone, 10 people have been saved after being trapped for 100 hours or more.



The business of burying the dead and settling the living

The Department of Civil Affairs addressed queries on the conditions of rescue sites. Records are made and DNA samples taken from the bodies after they are photographed, before they are cremated. The World Health Organisation says there is no health risk associated with the bodies lying in the open, but Chinese authorities are burning or burying the remains nonetheless to preserve the dignity of the dead.

There is also a need to provide shelter for the 5 million who have been left homeless. Factories have added more shifts to cope with the 700,000 more tents which have been ordered by the authorities to house the stranded.

In the midst of the crisis, two groups have been arrested for fraud. Using the name of the Red Cross, they sent out mass SMSes to mobile phones, asking for donations to the cause of the helping the victims.

Among those affected are the pandas in Sichuan's reserves. Apart for three missing ones, the rest have all been evacuated to safety. Sichuan is one of the few provinces left in China to have pandas in the wild.

Latest series of photos of the rescued pandas



VIDEO OF THE DAY

Ａhaunting photo essay with some of the most iconic images of the days gone by since the day the quake struck, set to an instrumental blend of strings and Chinese traditional instruments.

Day 8, May 19 2008, Monday

Death toll: 34, 073
Rescue toll: 245, 108
Injury toll: 52, 934
Aftershocks greater than 4: 155

There's a kind of hush

All over China, three minutes of silence was observed at 2.28 pm, exactly one week after the earthquake struck. Trains stopped running, trading suspended on the stock exchange, cars halted on the roads. 1.3 billion people, so many stood in silence.

On Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the flag was lowered to half-mast, as were flags all over the country, in the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, and at Chinese embassies and consulates the world over. Immediately after the observance was over, crowds broke out, chanting “ Wenchuan, hang on! Go, China!”

According to Xinhua News Agency, this is the first large-scale state organised mourning since former leader Mao Ze Dong's death in 1976.

This is "live" footage broadcast by Chinese state television after the three minutes of silence.



A 61-year-old woman is pulled out alive after 164 hours. She is suffering from some fractures but her vital signs are reported to be stable. According to her daughter, she had not been in the best of health. She has had to go to the hospital a few times a year and needed to sleep with socks and a sweater on, even in summer.

Local meteorological services are forecasting days of medium to heavy rain in Sichuan which may hamper the progress of the rescue efforts. Residents in Chengdu are spending the night out in the open, amidst local media reports warning of aftershocks measuring 7 on the Richter scale.

Muslim victims in Qingchuan County need halal emergency supplies to be delivered. There are about 10,000 Muslims in the county, including almost 1/3 in the county's Gaoxi Village, population 4,100, where 95% of the dwellings in the village can no longer be lived in.

Schools in various parts of the province remain closed as authorities inspect the quake-worthiness of the buildings. Several schools had collapsed due to poor construction standards, killing scores of children who were in class when the quake struck.



VIDEO OF THE DAY

A memorial montage set to the haunting sounds of the traditional Chinese string instrument, the erhu.

Day 7 May 18 2008, Sunday

Death toll: 32,476 Rescue toll: 220,109

Just for today, Taiwan for China

Two days before he becomes Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou ,mans the phone lines in charity telethon
Networks from China and Taiwan held a joint telecast of a charity telethon, organised by Taiwanese media, where several of the biggest names in Taiwan's entertainment industry took to the phone lines, as the calls from the public flooded in with donations. The island's then president-elect Ma Ying-jeou also joined in with his wife. By the end of the night, a grand total of 227 million Taiwan dollars ( US$ 7 million) was raised for the earthquake victims.

China's Environment Minister assures that no radioactive leakage has taken place from Sichuan's 32 radioactive sources. The province is also home to China's nuclear weapons research efforts, including the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics.

Three pandas are said to be missing from the Wolong Panda Reserve, despite earlier reports that all 63 were accounted for.

Three days of mourning will be held all over China and at Chinese diplomatic missions worldwide, starting tomorrow. The Sichuan government announces that it will be giving 5,000 yuan per death to all families.

China Civil Aviation Authority despatches the world's largest helicopter, the MI-26, to help with rescue relief. It can carry 20 tonnes of supplies. The World Food Programme had previously deployed the same type of helicopter to reach those in the Kashmir Valley affected by a previous earthquake in Pakistan in 2005.

A 50-year-old man is pulled out of the rubble alive, after being trapped for more than 140 hours. His condition is stable.

China revises the earthquake from 7.8 to 8.0 on the Richter Scale, after consolidation with international experts.

The China Youth Development Fund has set up a “Hope Primary School” in the earthquake-devastated region. Costing 350,000 yuan ( US$ 50,000) the school will be able to accommodate 600 students in nine classrooms. It has also been constructed to withstand quakes, fire and floods.


VIDEO OF THE DAY

Dedicated to the children affected by this disaster.

Earthquake struck twice in the same place

In 1933, a quake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale hit the town of Dixi. It was the location of an old town dating back a thousand years. The tremors had been so intense that the mountains on both sides collapsed into the Min River that flows through the region, creating a haizi, or a small lake, measuring 10 km long and 1km across.

The old town was immediately submerged,as were 21 hamlets in the area, killing 6,800 people. Today this lake is a sight of mesmerising beauty, a popular scenic spot for tourists.


Photos of the 1933 quake