An earthquake measuring 8.0 strikes at 14:28:04 in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province.
Rescue teams and other relief personnel enter devastated Beichuan county and begin rescuing survivors.
A Japanese rescue team, the first overseas team accepted, flies to Beijing.
The State Council declares the following three days as national days of mourning.
People across the nation observe three minutes of silence.
Premier Wen Jiabao and the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon respond to questions from reporters in Yingxiu.
A helicopter carrying 14 people crashes near Yingxiu.
The State Council issues regulations on rehabilitation and reconstruction.
A three-year deadline for rehabilitation and reconstruction is set.
Earthquake survivor Lin Hao marches with basketball star Yao Ming at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs puts the death toll at 69,227. It says 374,643 were injured and that 17,923 people are listed as missing.
Wen spends the first Lunar New Year after the quake with victims from Beichuan, Deyang and Wenchuan.
It is announced that May 12 will become the National Day of Disaster Prevention and Reduction.
The World Bank lends $770 million for reconstruction, the largest emergency aid loan in the bank’s history.
A nationwide program of reinforcing school buildings begins. From April 1 to April 4, Beichuan county is reopened to the relatives of quake victims.
On the first Tomb Sweeping Day since the earthquake, more than 10,000 people in Yingxiu take part in mass mourning.
The State Council Information Office issues a white paper on disaster reduction. Rebuilding of Yingxiu begins.
The first anniversary of the earthquake.
Yongchang, a town established to replace quake-leveled Beichuan county, is opened. It is the first relocation of a town since the earthquake.
The second anniversary.
The new Beichuan Primary School, covering 150,000 square meters, is opened.
Sichuan met a central government goal of shortening the three-year reconstruction period to two years.
A project aimed at restoration of cultural heritage sites begins, and is projected to be complete the following year.
Post-earthquake work is essentially complete, a government work report says.
A ceremony is held to commemorate the founding of the new site of Beichuan Qiang autonomous county.
Post-earthquake work will be completed before September, the government of Sichuan says.
The third anniversary.
Ninety-nine percent of 29,692 reconstruction projects, with a target investment 865.8 billion yuan, are completed.
A book on how Shanghai helped the city of Dujiangyan rebuild is completed. It has 1.2 million characters and more than 500 photos.
2012 A book on how Shanghai helped the city of Dujiangyan rebuild is completed. It has 1.2 million characters and more than 500 photos.
An emergency drill, said to be the biggest in history, is held in across the province. It starts at 2 pm and lasts four hours with more than 10,000 people taking part in.
The fourth anniversary.
A database on earthquake relief is set up.
The freeway between Yingxiu and Wenchuan, a main project in the reconstruction program, is opened.
Wenchuan County was named as a model resort promoting tourism in rural areas.
The fifth anniversary.
Lushan Earthquake