How many died from the Chinese earthquake this year?

Question

How many died from the Chinese earthquake this year?

Answer 1

This is an unknown.  Maybe the Chinese government knows, but it is doubtful that we ever will.  The poor construction revealed by the disaster - especially at public sites like schools - is an embarrassment to China, and to save face they might never reveal the full extent of the damage.

Answer 2

They say about 690,000 dead and 180,000 missing.

so that's about 870,000 deaths.

Answer 3

About 69,000 by first earthquake on 12 th May. Again they lost the life of 200 rescue person due to land slide.Again they lost another 2500 in re attack. The figures are only approximate.

Answer 4

We will probably never know. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake was reputed to have caused approximately 850,000 deaths, but the official figure from the Chinese authorities was around 250,000.

It is not a country that has a history of being forthcoming with statistics, whether from a natural disaster or otherwise.

A lot of young Chinese don't even know about what happened at Tiananmen Square back in 1989. Apparently, the Chinese government struck a deal with Google that no-one within China can bring up any part of the terrible events that occurred there in a Google search. If you're in China and you google 'Tiananmen Square', your results will include photos and tourist information about it, but NOTHING about the massacre and the riots of 1989.

I would like to think that we've seen an improvement here from this awful earthquake, more openness and willingness to accept aid if needed etc, but how will we know - we only get the news that China allows us to hear.

Same goes for the terrible cyclone disaster in Burma / Myanmar.

My heart goes out to all those poor souls in China and Burma.