China Stamp: T7-2008

China Semipostal Stamp
Name: Fighting Earthquake & Reducing Victims
Number: T7-2008
Date of Issue: 20 May 2008
Value: 1 stamp/set

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (Chinese: 四川大地震), at a magnitude 7.9 Mw, occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST (06:28:01.42 UTC) on 12 May 2008 in Sichuan province of China. In China, it was named the Wenchuan earthquake (Chinese: 汶川大地震), after the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County in Sichuan province. The epicenter was 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, with a depth of 19 kilometres (12 mi). The earthquake was felt as far away as Beijing (1,500 km away) and Shanghai (1,700 km away), where office buildings swayed with the tremor. The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries.

Official figures (as of May 20, 18:00 CST) state that 40,075 are confirmed dead, including 39,577 in Sichuan province, and 247,645 injured. The Chinese government warned that the death toll could reach 50,000. Tens of thousands are missing, approximately 14,000 of them buried, and eight provinces were affected. The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless. It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000 people. More...

Comment: China Post's reaction is as fast as the China Government on this serious earthquake. Because only few collector knew this set's issue date, I have gotten enough quantity from my local post office.