5,000 student death toll in Sichuan earthquake
A total of 5,335 students died or went missing in last year's Sichuan earthquake, Chinese local authorities said yesterday, giving an official figure for the first time since 11,687 schools were destroyed or damaged on May 12, 2008
No detailed list of the dead or missing students has been released. Instead, the number was calculated on the basis of applications received from families of dead or missing students for State compensation and relief funds, and is "reliable", Sichuan province's education chief Tu Wentao told a press conference.
Another 546 students were disabled in the quake, Tu said.
Denying allegations to the contrary, officials said a two-month investigation by more than 2,500 experts and field workers last summer did not find that substandard building materials had caused even a single school to collapse.
China Daily
