Quake museum honors victims

By Liang Yiwen  |   2009-5-9  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

BLUEPRINTS of the National Earthquake Ruins Museum, featuring the destruction of Beichuan County in Sichuan Province in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, 2008, was revealed by Shanghai Tongji University yesterday.

The so-called museum is more like a park as it covers 27 square kilometers. It will take 2.3 billion yuan (US$336 million) and four years to complete, according to the plan.

Exhibits will include ruins of Beichuan High School, where 1,000 students died, and the Beichuan County seat, which reported 15,645 deaths.

The dead will be honored with watch towers that will resemble Qiang castles. The castles built by Qiang people °?°?were famous for durability during the wars and disasters in ancient China.

"The watch towers are a symbol to indicate this is not deserted land," said Wu Changfu, the museum's major designer and deputy dean of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji.