May 2008: Earthquake in China

A refugee carries a piece of furniture retrieved from the ruins of the May 12 earthquake in Chengjiaba in China’s Sichuan province. Chengjiaba was left a virtual ghost town with only a few local people scavenging for possessions.  (Michael Reynolds / EPA)

A girl lights a candle during a memorial event for children who were killed in the May 12 earthquake in Chengdu, in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. Survivors now face a hot, humid summer in makeshift camps.  (Liu Jin / AFP / Getty Images)

A woman naps while caring for a relative at a temporary hospital for earthquake victims in Mianzhu County, China.  (Liu Jin AFP/Getty Images)

Earthquake survivor Yang Lingan, 82, is carried by her husband to a medical tent for treatment at a Chinese Red Cross refugee camp in Mianyang, China.  (Alexander F. Yuan / Associated Press)

Chinese men in Dujiangyan, China, lower a mattress from the wreckage of a building destroyed in the May 12 earthquake.  (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

Earthquake survivors look at a vehicle spraying disinfectant on the rubble of buildings in Hanwang, China.  (Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

A nurse wraps up 2-day-old Fang Zhongde, born in the German Red Cross Field Hospital set up to help in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake, in Dujiangyan, China. The 150-bed field hospital will be eventually handed over to the Chinese Red Cross.  (Andrew Wong / Getty Images)

Soldiers take cover as a helicopter delivers supplies to drain the Tangjiashan mountain “quake lake” in Beichuan County, China. China plans to evacuate 100,000 people threatened by the swelling lake formed by the recent earthquake. China’s Water Ministry has said 69 dams were in danger of bursting.  (China Photos / Getty Images)

A woman crosses a bridge damaged by the May 12 earthquake in Hanwang, China.  (Oded Balilty / Associated Press)

Chinese rescue workers rest after searching for the bodies of earthquake victims in Yingxiu, China.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

Chinese rescue workers line up to leave the area for they safety as authorities prepare to destroy earthquake damaged buildings using explosives and construction equipment in Yingxiu in Wenchuan County of southwest China’s Sichuan province Tuesday, May 27, 2008.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

Chinese authorities detonate explosives to try to bring down buildings which were badly damaged in the town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan County of southwest China’s Sichuan Province Tuesday, May 27, 2008.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

Earthquake survivor line up for food in a refugee camp, after losing their homes in May 12 earthquake at Xiaoba town in Anxian county, southwestern China’s Sichuan Province Tuesday, May 27, 2008.  (Oded Balilty / Associated Press)

A truck runs past a giant boulder caused by the earthquake at Leigu Township on May 26, 2008 in Beichuan County of Sichuan Province, China.  (China Photos / Getty Images)

An earthquake victim carries water back to is tent in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Homeless earthquake victims pull bricks out of the rubble to use as flooring inside their tents in Dujiangyan.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Zheng Rongchong grieves for her daughter Liu Wenbo, 10, who was among as many as 129 students killed in the collapse of Fuxin No. 2 Elementary School. Audio Slide Show >>>  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

People light candles in memory of earthquake victims at the People’s Square in Chengdu, Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Chinese soldiers clear rubble in the earthquake-hit township of Hanwang in Mianzhu city, north of Chengdu in Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

An earthquake survivor delicately folds what clothes he can find from his destroyed home in the quake-hit township of Hanwang in Mianzhu city, north of Chengdu in Sichuan province. In addition to problems associated with a reported 5 million homeless, the emotional scares, the invisible ones, can last much longer as a nation tries to dig itself out and deal with the trauma of loss.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Earthquake survivors retrieve belongings from a shop and place them into a truck in the quake-hit township of Hanwang in Mianzhu city, north of Chengdu in Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Sitting on a wooden chair in a pile of rubble, an earthquake survivor spends his time looking at his damaged home across the street in the township of Hanwang in Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A man observes a moment of silence in the earthquake-hit township of Hanwang during the nation’s official mourning period.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Earthquake survivors read a book together in an evacuee tent center in the township of Hanwang.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

People place flowers and light candles in memory of earthquake victims at the People’s Square in Chengdu, Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

People chant national slogans to keep the country strong at the People’s Square in Chengdu, Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

People hold candles in memory of earthquake victims at the People’s Square in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Streets were eerily empty as many shops shut their doors in response to a government call for three days of public mourning.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A mourner leaves a candle in memory of earthquake victims at the People’s Square in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Streets were eerily empty as many shops shut their doors in response to a government call for three days of public mourning.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Those left homeless by the earthquake sleep in People’s Square in Chengdu.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Residents choose to sleep outside in the main square in Chengdu, China. Many residents left their homes after new warnings of possible strong aftershocks.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A maternity hospital has set up a tent camp in the middle of a busy intersection in downtown Chengdu as a safety measure. Warnings of severe aftershocks for the next few days have forced many to camp out in the streets of downtown Chengdu, fearing that weakened buildings may collapse from more tremors.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Exhausted nurses sleep in a parked bus where a maternity hospital set up a tent camp in the middle of a busy intersection in downtown Chengdu.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Photos of injured earthquake victims are posted at a downtown hospital in Chengdu, China, so their families can find them.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Wu Guangfen, 65,and Deng Jiacheng, 68, married for 40 years, were forced to leave their small village for the first time in their lives by the earthquake. They are seeking shelter at the stadium in Mianyan.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Chinese soldiers observe three minutes of silence Monday in the rubble of a school in earthquake-hit Beichuan County, Sichuan province. From tent cities in Sichuan province to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, sirens wailed and millions of people stood to mourn the tens of thousands who died in last week’s earthquake.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A Chinese soldier observes three minutes of silence in the rubble of a school in earthquake-hit Beichuan County, Sichuan province.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Chinese mourners show their support by cheering for the Sichuan earthquake victims on Monday in Beijing. Three days of national mourning began in China on Sunday.  (Adam Pretty / Getty Images)

People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, observe three minutes of silence in remembrance of the Sichuan earthquake victims. China began a three-day period of national mourning Sunday to show respect for the more than 34,000 killed and 200,000 injured by the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit May 12.  (Oliver Weiken / EPA)

Mothers carry photos of their daughters who died when the Juyuan Middle School near Dujiangyan was destroyed in the devastating earthquake. It is estimated that about 900 pupils died in the school.  (Peter Parks / AFP/Getty Images)

A woman cries as people gather at a ceremony at the remains of the Juyuan Middle School near Dujiangyan. The school was destroyed in the devastating earthquake, and an estimated 900 pupils died.  (Peter Parks / AFP/Getty Images)

An earthquake survivor leads family members to the building where her child died. Ten of their relatives were killed in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China on May 12. Thousands of people remain buried in collapsed buildings from the 7.9 quake, the nation’s worst natural disaster in three decades. The government has raised the death toll to more than 67,000.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Earthquake survivors mourn the deaths of 10 family members who were killed in the Chinese earthquake. Thousands of people remain buried in collapsed buildings from the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck May 12.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Earthquake survivors grieve in front of the school where the woman on the right says her daughter died.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Search and rescue workers sift through rubble in Beichuan County, China.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Chinese soldiers retrieve a body from the rubble in Beichuan, China, and bring it to be buried in a mass grave.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A survivor retrieves her belongings from the rubble in Shifang in Sichuan province.  (Andrew Wong / Getty Images)