Casualties

According to Chinese state officials, the quake caused 69,181 known deaths including 68,636 in Sichuan province; 18,498 people are listed as missing, and 374,171 injured, but these figures may further increase as more reports come in. This estimate includes 158 earthquake relief workers who had been killed in landslides as they tried to repair roads. One rescue team reported only 2,300 survivors from Yingxian, out of a total population of about 9,000. 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan. Sichuan province alone, 10,000 injured and 80% of the buildings were destroyed. Eight schools were toppled in Chengdu.

In terms of school casualties, thousands of school children died due to unstable construction. In Mianyong City, seven schools collapsed, burying at least 1,700 people. At least 7,000 school buildings in Sichuan Province collapsed. Another 700 students were buried in a school in Hanwong. At least 600 students and staff died at Guyuan. Up to 3,300 children and teachers died in total due to the quake.

The earthquake left at least 5 million people without housing, although the number could be as high as 11 million. Millions of livestock and a significant amount of agriculture were also destroyed, including 12.5 million animals, which also included birds. In the Sichuan province a million pigs died out of 60 million in Sichuan province. It values Chengdu, Sichuan Province’s capital city of 4.5 million people, at around US$115 billion, with only a small portion covered by insurance.