Natural disasters occur frequently in China, affecting more than 200 million people every year. These include floods, earthquakes, and droughts. In the worst natural disaster to strike China in over 30 years, the Sichuan earthquake claimed the lives of over 86,000 people, and destroyed the homes of more than 11 million people. Some 45 million people have been affected. The scale of the destruction was staggering – eighty percent of the buildings in many towns collapsed. Continuing aftershocks threatened the disaster zone for the remainder of 2008. Damage to roads, dams, communications infrastructure and industry are widespread and extensive. Read more...