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On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, 
an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale
 hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China. 
By the next day, the death toll stood at 12,000, 
with another 18,000 still missing. 
Over 15 million people live in the affected area, 
including almost 4 million in the city of Chengdu. 
Nearly 2,000 of the dead were students and teachers 
caught in schools that collapsed.

Since the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, 
which killed over 240,000 people, 
China has required that new structures withstand major quakes. 
But the collapse of schools, hospitals and factories 
in several different areas around Sichuan may raise questions about 
how rigorously such codes have been enforced 
during China’s recent, epic building boom.