First Day (May 12)

At 14:28 on May 12, 2008, a devastating earthquake jolted Wenchuan County of the Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, the Wenchuan earthquake is the deadliest tremor in China in decades following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The tremor cut off roads and all communication with the outside world, and was felt in Beijing, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tibet. The earthquake caused great damages to the neighboring counties in the epicenter of the earthquake.

15:55: General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao gave important instructions for all-out efforts to rescue the injured.

16:40: Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the quake-hit area to direct the rescue and relief work.

The State Council organized the Rescue Headquarters of the State Council, with Premier Wen Jiabao as the chief head and Li Keqiang and Hui Liangyu as the deputy chief. Meantime, major leaders of the departments, military units, Armed Police units, local Party committees, and governments formed eight earthquake fighting groups, including the rescue team, monitoring group, medical group, life arrangement group, infrastructure group, production recovery group, security group, and publicity group.

Evening: Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee met to deploy the work of fighting disaster. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao chaired the meeting.

20:30: Premier Wen Jiaobao reached Dujiangyan City of Sichuan Province, and the Rescue Headquarters of the State Council went into official operation.

19:50: The State Earthquake Emergency Response and Rescue Team and the State Earthquake Disaster Work Team flew from Beijing to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan area.

22:00: Some 3,000 officers and men with the Sichuan General Team of China's Armed Police and the No.3 Hydraulic Power Team of the Armed Police rushed to the disaster-stricken area fully loaded with equipment.

24:00: Close to 20,000 PLA and Armed Police officer and men reached the disaster-stricken area for the rescue work.

The rescue work officially began. The rescue workers raced against the time.

Second Day (May 13)

The whole nation waited with great worries.

01:00: Wenchuan County finally contacted the outside world with the satellite phone system.

03:00: More than 10,000 PLA men and Armed Police Men gathered. As the road was blocked, some of them had to marched in double times to Wenchuan.

04:00: A total of 85 cadres with the PLA Aba Military Area Headquarters Institution and the Medical Rescue Team walked six hours at night for 32 km to the county sea of Lixian for the rescue work. They were followed by PLA and Armed Police officers and men.

07:00: Premier Wen Jiabao demanded at the meeting of the Rescue Headquarters of the State Council that everything possible had been done to open the road into the disaster-stricken area of Wenchuan.

23:15: A total of 200 officers and men of the First Rescue Group of a Sichuan unit of the Armed Police marched in double times for 90 km from Lixian to the county seat of Wenchuan.

Third Day (May 14))

On May 14, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to discuss the disaster-relief work. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao chaired the meeting.

Small hours: The advance group composed of some 30 men with the PLA Chengdu Military Area marched in double times in the teeth of rain to Yingxiu Town which was seriously hit by the earthquake,

08:00: Some 1,000 PLA and Armed Police officers and men gathered in the Wenchuan county seat to conduct rescue work. More came for the rescue work.

09:00: Some 100 officers and men with the No.3 Hydraulic Power Team of the Armed Police fought 27 hours and opened the 47-km road from Maerkang to Lixiang county seat.

09:20: Some 500 officers and men of a Red Army Division of the PLA Chengdu Military Area entered the seriously hit Maoxian for rescue work.

10:20: Two helicopters landed in the epic center of the earthquake in Wenchuan county seat. Several helicopters dropped food and other emergency supplies to Wenchuan.

Noon: The first batch of 15 elite soldiers from airborne special force were parachuted into Maoxian County. They sent back important formation at 15:00 for the first time that 105,000 people were hit by the earthquake, two hydraulic power stations were seriously damaged and the dams could burst.

13:00: Although roads had been blocked, the rescue workers managed to enter all "blind spots" at the county level in all counties suffering from the earthquake. The rescue work was conducted in an all-round way.

15:00: Officers and men of the PLA Engineering Troops saved 27 quake survivors in the Beichuan Middle School through more than 50 hours of efforts.

18:00: Some 500 officers and men with the rescue team of the Chongqing General Team of the Armed Police reached Maoxian county seat. They were the first large group of PLA officers and men who entered Maoxian County following the parachute troops air-dropped to Maoxian the same day.

The PLA and Armed Police officers and men marched in double times to the disaster-stricken spots. The same day saw long lines of people who were waiting in queues to donate blood and money for the victims in the earthquake-distressed areas in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and other places in China.

Fourth Day (May 15)

On May 15, more rescuers gathered in the disaster-stricken areas. The 72 hours after the quake were crucial to the survivors, and the rescue workers struggled day and night in the disaster-stricken area from Dujiangyan to Beichuan, from Mianzhu to Wenchuan, from Lixian to Maoxian….

By the noon time, some 60,000 wounded people had been rescued, received medical treatment and were moved to safe places.

Telephone and mobile phone and broadband services were recovered. Connection with the outside world which had been suspended for 70 hours after the May 12 earthquake finally resumed.

21:00: The road extending from Lixian to Wenchuan was opened and motor vehicles fully loaded with relief materials finally reached the county seat of Wenchuan.

Fifth Day (May 16)

Although the 72-hour limit of the "golden rescue time" had passed, rescue workers relaxed no effort to search and rescue the survivors.

General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao flew to the disaster-stricken area of Sichuan Province, visiting the local people suffering from the quake and directing the disaster relief work.

09:00: Telecommunication service resumed in eight worst-hit county seats.

Rescue troops marched into 58 residential areas around Yingxiu Town, which were the most hit during the earthquake. The road leading to the county seat of the most-hit Beichuan was opened.

Medical teams hailing from various parts of China plunged into the rescue work. Great efforts were made to intensify prevention of epidemics after the earthquake.

Rescue teams from Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as those from Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Singapore reached Chengdu of Sichuan Province, where they moved to Qingchuan, Miaozhu and Shenfang. They plunged into the rescue work

Sixth Day (May 17)

Rescuing the survivors is the most important! Many survivors were saved on the first day.

17:12: Jiang Yuhang, 20, who was buried under six tiers of cement plates for close to 125 hours, was saved in Yingxiu Town.

21:00: The rescue workers of an Engineering Troup of the PLA Chengdu Military Area successfully rescued a man named Wu Jianping in Pingwu County, who was buried under 6 meters of debris for 127 hours.

About 70 percent of the disaster-stricken towns and villages in Sichuan Province resumed supply of drinking water; telecommunications resumed basically in the Chengdu area, and the most-hit Wenchuan and other counties were able to contact the outside world; the Dujiangyan-Yingxiu section of the National Highway G213 was opened as the second "life avenue" leading into the most-hit areas, the first being the Lixiang-Wenchuan section of the National Highway G317.

Seventh Day (May 18)

00:00: The Ministry of Health sent 5,530 medical workers and 550 ambulances to the disaster-stricken area. They worked in all counties and all townships in the disaster area.

09:15: The rescue workers rescued a survivor named Tang Xiong from under debris of the Beichuan County Hospital. He had been buried there for 139 hours.

20:10: Yu Jinhua,female worker with the Yingxiu Town Power Station, was rescued after being buried in the debris for 150 yours.

The China Earthquake Administration declared that the previous report on Wenchuan earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale be revised to be Wenchuan earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale.

The State Council announced that May 19-21, 2008 be the National Day of Mourning. During the three days, flags were to be kept at half-mast in the whole country and various Chinese diplomatic organs overseas, all public amusements would be suspended, and condolence books were to be opened in the Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.

18:12: The PLA and Armed Police had dispatched 113,080 officers and men to participate in the rescue work.

Eighth Day (May 19)

14:28: A three-minute silence was observed across the country at 14:28 on May 19, the time at which the earthquake originally stuck. Automobiles, trains, and ships all sounded their air sirens.

Rescue work continued.

10:40: Li Mingcui, 61 and who had been buried under debris for 164 hours in Qushan Town of Beichuan County, was rescued.

11:00: Wang Chunbang, who had been buried under debris in Qingchuan County for 164.5 hours, was rescued.

14:30: All the rescue workers reached 3,669 disaster-stricken villages in Sichuan Province.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs, the PLA units, various local civil affairs departments and the China Red Cross sent 278,462 tents, 783,984 quilts, 1.7836 million padded garments, and 218 million Yuan worth of food and drinking water to the disaster-stricken area.

Ninth Day (May 20)

Roads leading into Mianzhu, Shenfang, Pengzhou and Chongzhou were repaired and opened to traffic. Of the most-hit 439 towns, 393 towns became accessible by roads. Beichuan, Maoxian and Wolong still enjoyed no power supply; other disaster-stricken counties and towns now have resumed or partly resumed power supply.

00:50: Ma Yuanjiang, who had been buried under debris in Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan for 179 hours, was rescued.

18:00: An old lady, who had been buried under rocks in Pengzhou for 196 hours, was rescued.

Tenth Day (May 21)

14:30: Cui Changhui,a female worker who had been buried under debris in a construction-site in Shenfang for 216 hours, was rescued.

By May 21, a total of 34 quake lakes were found in the disaster-stricken area. To avoid accidents, the Mianyang Disaster Relief Work Headquarters decided to move people on the lower reaches to safe places. People in Beichuan and Jiangyou Counties on the lower reaches were evacuated before May 24. People evacuated received relief materials.

By May 21, Sichuan had set up 4,173 places for 5.798 million people from the disaster-stricken area.

Eleventh Day (May 22)

Morning: General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, discussing matters concerning disaster relief work. After the meeting, Hu Jintao left for Huzhou of Zhejiang Province for an inspection of tent production.

Afternoon: Premier Wen Jiabao went to Sichuan again to direct the disaster relief work, and expressed sympathy and solicitude for the people in the disaster-stricken area, and brought thanks to efforts made by the PLA and Armed Police officers and men, security police, medical workers and other rescue workers.

10:00: A total of 51,151 people were killed during the earthquake, 288,431 people wounded and 29,328 people missing.

12:00: Domestic and international donations totaled 21.416 billion Yuan, including 12.579 billion Yuan already in place and 1.915 billion Yuan allocated to the disaster-stricken area. What had been sent to the disaster-stricken area included 403,340 tents, 2.305884 million quilts, and 3.052 million garments.

12:00: Some 68,808 people who were wounded during the earthquake received medical treatment. A total of 28,497 million of them were cured and left the hospitals, 3,444 died during treatment, and 33,665 people are receiving treatment. A total of 3,002 have been transferred to hospitals of other provinces.

12:00: A total of 167 aftershocks measuring 4 or higher magnitude have been monitored, including 26 aftershocks measuring 5 or higher magnitude and four aftershocks measuring 6 or higher magnitude.

14:00: Governments at various levels allocated 13.975 billion Yuan for disaster relief work. This included 10.295 billion Yuan from the Central Finance and 3.68 billion Yuan from local finances.

12:00: Beichuan County still has no power supply, and Hongyuan County's power supply was cut off again after a recent aftershock.

By May 22, a total of 25,062 telecommunication bases were damaged, but 23,117 of them were repaired and are now in service; and 24,056 km of cables were damaged, and 13,885 km of them were replaced.