China's greatest natural disaster in three decades.
Anger over the number of schools that collapsed in the earthquake.
Officials initially promised a full investigation into the issue, but now seem to be discouraging parents from venting their frustration.
Many of those who died were children, killed when their schools were destroyed. Almost 7,000 classrooms are reported to have collapsed, killing more than 11,000 children and teachers.
There have been many complaints that the schools were badly built.
Parents have been prevented from filing a lawsuit against the principal of one collapsed school where hundreds died. And officials seem to be attempting to tone down public expressions of grief. Officials pledged to allow a proper investigation, but now appear to be backtracking.
More HERE and HERE
A official toll puts the number of people killed in the disaster at over 70,000, with another 15,000 still missing.
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More ways to donate to the Chinese Earthquake; HERE or Google
There is another way which is easy, that is to text msg '1' or '2' to 106 999 930 1 to donate 1 RMB or 2 RMB to China Red Cross. Please note, only 1 or 2 can be donated!!! Don't text more rather than 1 or 2; otherwise, it wouldn't be accepted!!
Here is the official info published but sorry that's in Chinese, just FYI http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-05/13/content_8158260.htm
The quakes struck in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces. Some facts and figures demonstrating the scale of the operation.
The quake death toll may reach 90,000, so far almost 300,000 people had been recorded injured and 36,000 medical staff. The Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless following the 7.9-magnitude quake. It said some 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts, and 170,000 cotton-padded garments had been despatched to the disaster area.
************************************************************************************************************ Chinese Are Left to Ask Why Schools Crumbled in Quake The Chinese government has ordered an investigation into the collapse of school buildings in the recent earthquake, it has promised to punish anyone found guilty of shoddy construction.
Hundreds of students are thought to have perished in schools during the earthquake.
DUJIANGYAN, The earthquake’s destruction of Xinjian Primary School was swift and complete. Hundreds of children were crushed as the floors collapsed in a deluge of falling bricks and concrete. Days later, as curiosity seekers came with video cameras and as parents came to grieve, the four-story school was no more than rubble.
In contrast, none of the nearby buildings were badly damaged. A separate kindergarten less than 20 feet away survived with barely a crack. An adjacent 10-story hotel stood largely undisturbed. And another local primary school, Beijie, catering to children of the elite, was in such good condition that local officials were using it as a refugee center.
“This is not a natural disaster,” said Ren Yongchang, whose 9-year-old son died inside the destroyed school. His hands were covered in plaster dust as he stood beside the rubble, shouting and weeping as he grabbed the exposed steel rebar of a broken concrete column. “This is not good steel. It doesn’t meet standards. They stole our children.”
There is no official figure on how many children died at Xinjian Primary School, nor on how many died at scores of other schools that collapsed in the powerful May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province. But the number of student deaths seems likely to exceed 10,000, and possibly go much higher, a staggering figure that has become a simmering controversy in China as grieving parents say their children might have lived had the schools been better built.
The Chinese government has enjoyed broad public support for its handling of the earthquake. But as parents at different schools begin to speak out, the question of whether official negligence, and possibly corruption, contributed to the student deaths could turn public opinion. The government has launched an investigation, but censors, wary of the public mood, are trying to suppress the issue in state-run media and online.
An examination of the collapse of Xinjian Primary School offers a disturbing picture of a calamity that might have been avoided. Many parents say they were told the school was unsafe. Xinjian was poorly built when it opened its doors in 1992, they say, and never got its share of government funds for reconstruction because of its low ranking in the local education bureaucracy and the low social status of its students.
A decade ago, a detached wing of the school was torn down and rebuilt because of safety concerns. But the main building remained unimproved. Engineers and earthquake experts who examined photographs of its wreckage concluded that the structure had many failings and one critical flaw: inadequate iron reinforcing rods running up the school’s vertical columns.One expert described the unstable concrete floor panels as “time bombs.”
Xinjian also was ill-equipped for a crisis. An ambulance and other rescue vehicles that responded after the earthquake could not fit through the entrance into the school’s courtyard.
A bulldozer finally dug up beneath the front gate to create enough overhead clearance. Parents say they believe several hundred of the school’s 660 pupils died.
Please note Links are verified through Xinhuanet.com.
rhymeroyal
China's greatest natural disaster in three decades.
There is another way which is easy, that is to text msg '1' or '2' to 106 999 930 1 to donate 1 RMB or 2 RMB to China Red Cross. Please note, only 1 or 2 can be donated!!! Don't text more rather than 1 or 2; otherwise, it wouldn't be accepted!! 
DUJIANGYAN, The earthquake’s destruction of Xinjian Primary School was swift and complete. Hundreds of children were crushed as the floors collapsed in a deluge of falling bricks and concrete. Days later, as curiosity seekers came with video cameras and as parents came to grieve, the four-story school was no more than rubble.
A decade ago, a detached wing of the school was torn down and rebuilt because of safety concerns. But the main building remained unimproved. Engineers and earthquake experts who examined photographs of its wreckage concluded that the structure had many failings and one critical flaw: inadequate iron reinforcing rods running up the school’s vertical columns.One expert described the unstable concrete floor panels as “time bombs.” 
