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Only 19,000 China quake victims identified

Posted November 21, 2008 23:05:00

Only 19,000 victims of the devastating earthquake that struck China's south-west six months ago have been identified, fewer than a quarter of the total dead or missing, a top official said.

Sichuan Vice Governor Wei Hong told journalists efforts to tabulate the names, addresses and circumstances of the dead and missing victims of the March 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.

Mr 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 $US124 billion in direct economic losses, while reconstruction costs could exceed $US245 billion and take many years, the Government has said.

- AFP

Tags: disasters-and-accidents, earthquake, china