Children crouching under the tables in a classroom during a safety drill at The Third Experimental Primary School in Wen County in China's central Henan province yesterday, on the ninth anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The 8.0-magnitude quake struck south-western Sichuan province at 2.28pm on May 12, 2008, leaving 87,000 people dead or missing, and some 374,000 injured. Tremors could be felt across half of China, from Beijing to Shanghai, The Straits Times reported in 2008. When May 12 comes around each year, safety drills are carried out at schools across China as part of the country's national disaster prevention and mitigation day.