A man walks past a collapsed building in Beichuan Town, which was severely damaged by a powerful 7.9 earthquake. The Chinese government raised the death toll to 21,500 but has said fatalities could rise above 50,000. Tens of thousands could still be buried in collapsed buildings in Sichuan province, where the quake was centered.

earthquake china chinese sichuan natural disaster color image asian ethnicity landscape death toll chinese people aid relief effort journalismcollection horizontal outdoors day