The government has shown courage by releasing disaster-related statistics. It has given us the power to rebuild our homes in the quake zone, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

For the first time ever earlier this month, the Sichuan provincial government released detailed information about the quake death toll in its territory - 68,712 people killed, 17,921 people missing, and more than 5,300 students killed or missing.

The transparency is the first of its kind since the founding of New China in 1949, prior to which, information regarding a severe disaster, especially the death toll, was kept under tight wraps.

Now, we don't need to wait for information for years. The Chinese government has made pledges to release information to its public with a series of legislations.

As early as 2005, the government started to issue a directive ordering for transparency in the death toll in natural disasters.

In April this year, the national initiative of human rights action has further systematized and normalized the protection of people's right of knowing.

We believe that a list of names of those killed by the Sichuan quake and the source of information behind the statistics will soon be made public.

The move to make information related to the quake deaths public has emitted a power. The power has helped us to pay more attention to safety in schools and care for the surviving victims' psychological health.

It has also helped us to think of ways to contribute to the reconstruction work as citizens and find ways to rise up from the debris.

Now, statistics from the quake zone of Sichuan province have showcased the achievements we have made in the past one year - tidier schools, brand-new condos, and evenly paved roads.

(China Daily May 9, 2009)