China mourns dead a year after devastating quake

MOURNERS crowded ruins in south-west China to mark one year since an earthquake shattered the region, while President Hu Jintao called reconstruction efforts a testament to national strength.

In Sichuan province, where the earthquake rippled out from Wenchuan County on May 12 last year, survivors and relatives filed into devastated towns to mourn loved ones among the more than 80,000 people killed.

Hu laid a wreath in Yingxiu, a town near the epicentre wiped out by the quake, and called the effort to rescue survivors and rebuild the region a vindication of ruling Communist Party policy.