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China has only identified 19,000 quake victims: official
2008-11-21
BEIJING (AFP) - Only 19,000 victims of the devastating earthquake that struck China's southwest six months ago have been identified, fewer than a quarter of the total dead or missing, a top official said Friday. Sichuan Vice Governor Wei Hong told journalists efforts to tabulate the names, addresses and circumstances of the dead and missing victims of the May 12 earthquake was a very complex process and had still not been completed. "At present we have publicised the names of 19,065 quake victims," he said. Wei was answering a question on how many students were killed in the earthquake due to school house collapses, a sensitive issue that has left bereaved parents accusing local officials of building unsafe schools. That number has not yet been publicised. The magnitude 8.0 quake, the most devastating to strike China in over 30 years, left nearly 88,000 people dead or missing, 375,000 injured, over five million homeless and up to 1.5 million people displaced. It caused about 124 billion dollars in direct economic losses, while reconstruction costs could exceed 245 billion dollars and take many years, the government has said.
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