At 2.28 PM on May 12 A 7.8 Richter Scale earthquake pounded Wenchuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

May 12 The strong earthquake in southwest China has damaged power supplies to local telecommunications facilities, which affected cell phone services.
May 12 Rain linger over much of quake-stricken southwestern Sichuan Province over three days
May 13 near 20,000 soldiers and armed policemen have arrived in the quake-hit areas in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Additional 30,000 soldiers are advancing towards the quake-hit regions by planes, trains and trucks, and on foot.
May 13 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday kept rushing from one quake-hit city to another to assure victims in southwest China that rescuers and relief materials are on the way.
May 14 The People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday carried out its largest airlift yet, with 22 military transporters and 12 civilian passenger planes used, to move personnel and equipment to the quake-hit Sichuan Province, according to army headquarters.
May 15 A total of 50,000 quilts and 37,700 tents allocated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs have arrived at the southwest China quake zone as of 3 p.m. Thursday, with 32,200 tents going to Chengdu, in Sichuan Province.
May 16 President Hu arrives in quake-hit Sichuan. Chinese President Hu Jintao inspected quake-battered Mianyang city in southwestern Sichuan Province, urging continued efforts in quake rescue and giving top priority to the saving of people’s lives even after four days have passed since the quake struck.
May 17 Chinese President Hu Jintao headed for Wenchuan County at the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake by road on Saturday morning, to direct the rescue and relief work there.
May 18 The China Seismological Bureau (CSB) on Sunday revised the magnitude of southwest China earthquake from 7.8 to 8.0 on the Richter scale.
May 19 The death toll in China’s major earthquake rose to 34,073 as of 12:00 a.m. Monday, according to the earthquake relief headquarters of the State Council.
At 2:28 PM on May 19 Millions of people in China and overseas observed three minutes silence at 2:28 pm Monday to mourn thousands of people killed in an earthquake which hit the nation’s on May 12.