 | The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (Chinese: 四川大地震), at a magnitude 8.0 Ms / 7.9 Mw, occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST (06:28:01.42 UTC) on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China. In China, it was named the Wenchuan earthquake (Chinese: 汶川大地震), after the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County in Sichuan province. The epicenter was 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, with a depth of 19 kilometres (12 mi). |
| The earthquake was felt as far away as Beijing (1,500 km away) and Shanghai (1,700 km away), where office buildings swayed with the tremor. The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries. Official figures (as of May 20, 18:00 CST) state that 40,075 are confirmed dead, including 39,577 in Sichuan province, and 247,645 injured. The Chinese government warned that the death toll could reach 50,000. Tens of thousands are missing, approximately 14,000 of them buried, and eight provinces were affected. The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless. It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000 people. On the evening of May 18, CCTV-1 hosted a special four-hour program called The Giving of Love (爱的奉献), hosted by regulars from the CCTV New Year's Gala and continual coverage anchor Bai Yansong, and attended by a wide range of entertainment, literary, business and political figures from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Donations of the evening totalled 1.5 billion Chinese Yuan ($US 208 million). At 11:30 in the evening, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singaporean entertainers Joey Yung (see photo), Nicholas Tse, Wakin Chau, JJ Lin and Zhang Mingmin sang a song titled “Tomorrow will be better.” Joey Yung is a popular singer and actress from Hong Kong. She is an artist of the Emperor Entertainment Group. She won the "Most Popular Female Singer Award" at the year end Jade Solid Gold Awards in 2003 with the help of her hit, "My Pride" and won the same prize in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 thus emerging as one of the premier Cantonese singers in the world. The following video shows the fundraising concert organized by the Tucson (Arizona) Chinese Community Center and the Tucson Sino Choir on May 16, 2008. The concert was dedicated to the victims of the earthquake. It raised $72,600 for the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund. | |
"Tomorrow will be Better" - Earthquake Relief Concert | |
| SOURCE: 2008 Sichuan Earthquake |
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