Areas Affected by China's Giant Earthquake

The giant earthquake that hit China's Sichuan Province at 2:38 Monday Afternoon was China's largest natural disaster in over three decades. The epicenter of the quake was located at the town of Wenchuan in southwestern China's Sichuan Province. Over 80 percent of buildings near the epicenter were flattened, and almost all bridges and tunnels had collapsed. The area is fairly isolated, so China's major population centers were unhurt.

The largest city near the epicenter, Chengdu, felt the tremors, but the city was luckily largely spared. No major damage was reported, although a large number of its residents spent the night outdoors in fear of further aftershocks. For safety's sake, officials have asked that all tourists, foreign or domestic, leave the city, and have forbid anyone from entering the city for the time being. No tourists visiting the city were injured during the earthquake.

Chongqing has remained open, so all cruises down the Yangtze River will continue uninterrupted. Officials from the largest dam in the world, Three Gorges Dam, located on the Yangtze River reported although they felt the quake, the dam sustained no damage from it, and has remained in operation continuously.

The quake set off another, much smaller quake outside of Beijing, but no deaths have been reported from it. Olympic organizers have reported that none of the venues were damaged because they were designed with earthquakes in mind.

More informations about this earthquake