In Pictures
Pain lives on for families of students crushed in Sichuan quake
Ten years on, relatives of Chinese earthquake victims find it hard to forget their loved ones who died in the disaster.
Sichuan province, China – On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the mountainous western province of Sichuan, China, killing nearly 90,000 people.
Among the dead were thousands of students who were crushed to death when their poorly-constructed classrooms collapsed.
The government has since directed substantial resources into rebuilding the quake-affected zone, but a decade later the students’ death is still a source of national heartbreak.
Zhao Xinghua and his wife Chen Jinlian lost their only son Chen Yi, who died in his elementary school classroom.
Zhao and his wife adopted a girl four years after the death of their son; one year later, Zhao’s wife gave birth to a boy.
Even though life has moved on, Zhao still finds it impossible to forget his son killed in the 2008 earthquake, or to forgive those responsible for the collapse of the school buildings.
