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The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale stuck China on 12 May at around 2:30pm, in the Sichuan province of China. The epicentre, located in the Wenchuan county was at a depth of 19km and was felt as far as Beijing and Shanghai (over 1500 km away) killing over 69,000 people and leaving about 5 million people homeless
The earthquake lasted about two minutes but the shallowness of the epicenter and the density of population greatly increased the severity of the earthquake. Over 200,000 buildings collapsed, including over 7000 schools where students were attending class during the quake.
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All of the highways into Wenchuan, and others throughout Sichuan province, were damaged, resulting in delayed arrival of the rescue troops. Landslides, power failures and fallen mobile phone towers further caused the affected area cut off from the outside world and limited information about the damage.
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