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China quake death toll rises to 55,239
The death toll in China's Sichuan province from last week's earthquake has risen to 55,239, with another 24,949 missing, a senior government official said in Beijing on Friday.
The death toll in China's Sichuan province from last week's earthquake has risen to 55,239, with another 24,949 missing, a senior government official said in Beijing on Friday.
The number of people injured in Sichuan is 281,066, the province's vice governor, Li Chengyun, also told reporters.
The quake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, struck mountainous Sichuan on May 12.
The confirmed death toll in Sichuan is a rise of more than 5,000 from the figure given on Thursday.
However the combined number of people left dead or missing remained about the same at just over 80,000.
Li travelled to Beijing to give reporters a detailed summary of the devastation across Sichuan.
He said that more than 5.47 million people were left homeless and 5.46 million buildings had collapsed.
The area devastated by the quake covered 100,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles), according to Li.
Nearly 28 million people had been living in the quake-hit areas, he said.
