China opens quake-leveled county to mourners for anniversary

Source: Xinhua | 05-12-2009 08:21

BEICHUAN, Sichuan, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The quake-devastated Beichuan county seat in southwest China's Sichuan Province reopened Sunday to residents to mourn the dead ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster.

A mother mourns for her child who was only 67 days old when  killed in last year's May 12 earthquake in Beichuan, the  hardest-hit area in the disaster, in southwest China's  Sichuan Province, on May 10, 2009. Parents who lost their  children came back to Beichuan as the first anniversary  of the disaster approaches. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Some 21,000 people, or two-thirds of the county seat's population, were dead or missing in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12 last year, making the county the worst hit in the quake.

The county will be open for four days till Wednesday.