China commemorates the Wenchuan earthquake victims after 15 years

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BEIJING, May 12 (EFE): Users of Chinese state and social media celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, which left more than 69,000 dead and nearly 18,000 missing.

On China’s microblogging site Weibo, the hashtag #5121428, which indicates the time of a magnitude 8 earthquake (14:28 on May 12), has been shared 178,000 times as of Friday afternoon and has garnered 410 million views.

Douyin, as TikTok is known in China, has created a digital church to honor the deceased where more than 230,000 users have deposited virtual candles.

It’s been fifteen years, but I still cry when I see the pictures. That day, some left and some stayed with us. Let’s remember the children of Beichuan (the hardest hit area), the mothers, and the teachers who used their own bodies to protect them,” one Weibo user wrote.

The earthquake hit rural schools and colleges, some of which were built with defective materials and were not prepared for an earthquake like the one that occurred in 2008.

Many remember the moment of the accident.

“I was still in high school and a teacher came to stop the class and inform us, it was so sad,” one user wrote.

Others highlighted the grassroots mobilization in aid of Wenchuan and its province, Sichuan, which saw thousands of volunteers assist affected areas to help rescue and raise huge funds, to which movie stars, politicians and overseas Chinese communities contributed.

State media paid tribute to the rescue force personnel who headed to the quake-affected areas, telling of a “rebirth” of the hardest-hit areas and stories of some affected children who lost limbs but made successful careers in fields such as sports or fashion in their adult lives.

On the anniversary of the tragedy, Sichuan residents received a reminder of the intense seismic activity in the area where they live: at 2:34 am on Friday (18:34 GMT on Thursday).

Luoding County recorded a 4.5-magnitude earthquake, followed by three less intense aftershocks, without causing damage beyond rockfalls on some roads, the China Seismological Network Center reported Friday.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake left 93 dead and 24 missing in September. EFE

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