China says 19,000 students died in May earthquake
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In this Friday May 23, 2008 file photo, a mother holds a picture of her son who was killed in the previous week's earthquake during a memorial service at a primary school in Mianzhu, in China's southwest Sichuan province. China has acknowledged for the first time that more than 19,000 students died in the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May.
(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)China says 19,000 students died in May earthquake
BEIJING – China acknowledged Friday for the first time that more than 19,000 schoolchildren were among the dead in the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May.
The earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing, but the government had never said how many of the casualties were students. Most died when their shoddily built elementary and secondary schools collapsed.
Their deaths become a sensitive political issue for the government, with parents of dead children staging protests demanding investigations. Many of the parents have also been subjected to intimidation and financial inducements to silence them.
The student death toll of 19,065 was given at a news conference on preparations for the winter by Wei Hong, executive vice governor of Sichuan.
Wei said that millions of those displaced in the earthquake still need quilts and repairs to their homes if they are to survive the coming winter, expected to be unusually cold.
The earthquake, which was centered in the southwestern province of Sichuan, displaced millions and left China struggling to carry out reconstruction work.
Wei said relief work was important because experts were predicting temperatures would be slightly lower this winter in the area compared to previous years.
"During the post-disaster period of relocations, we have placed at the core the work of making sure that thousands of affected people, especially those living in extremely cold and remote rural areas, will live safely and warmly through this wintertime," Wei said.
He said that although millions of cotton quilts and clothing had been donated already, more was still needed.
Wei said that as of Nov. 12, nearly 200,000 homes had been rebuilt, 685,000 homes were under reconstruction, but that nearly two million households still needed to be rebuilt or repaired.
More than 1,300 schools have been reconstructed or are currently being worked on, and site selection had started for relocating 25 townships, including Beichuan and Wenchuan, two of the most devastated areas.
(This version CORRECTS name to Wei in penultimate graf.)
In this May 21, 2008 file photo, two Chinese students, who survived the previous week's quake, cry while holding a Harry Potter book belonging to a victim, at a collapsed school in Beichuan China's southwest Sichuan province. More than 19,000 schoolchildren died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May, China acknowledged Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 for the first time.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Schoolgirls play at a temporary school in Yinghua township, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on November 11, 2008. Six months after thousands of school children lost their lives in the Sichuan earthquake, psychological counselling remains a dire need for families here.
(AFP/File/Liu Jin)
In this May 17, 2008 file photo, student ID tags are placed on the ground at the Juyuan Middle School, in Dujiangyan, in China's southwest Sichuan province. More than 19,000 schoolchildren died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May, China acknowledged Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 for the first time.
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)
In this June 1, 2008 file photo, a woman mourns for her grandson who died in the May 12 earthquake, in the debris of the collapsed Xingjian elementary School as they mark the Children day in Dujiangyan, southwestern China's Sichuan Province. More than 19,000 schoolchildren died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May, China acknowledged Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 for the first time.
(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
FILE---In this May 13, 2008 file photo provided by Xinhua news agency, a trapped youth from Beichuan middle school waits for rescuers in the earthquake-hit region of Beichuan County, about 160 kilometers northeast of the epicenter in southwest China's Sichuan Province. More than 19,000 schoolchildren died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May, China acknowledged Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 for the first time.
(AP Photo / Li Gang, Xinhua)
In this May 29, 2008 file photo, a mother cries as she holds a photo of his daughter who was killed in an earthquake, as she stands in the ruins of the Fuxin No.2 Primary School in Wufu, in China's southwest Sichuan province. More than 19,000 schoolchildren died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May, China acknowledged Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 for the first time.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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