CHENGDU, SICHUAN: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is about to end his weeklong official visit to China, today inspected an earthquake memorial and museum built after the 2008 earthquake in Chengdu, the Capital of Sichuan province.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Oli paid emotional tributes to those who lost their lives in the earthquake that devastated Sichuan on May 12, 2008.

Around 70,000 had died and millions of people had been rendered homeless by the 7.8 Richter scale quake.

The Prime Minister inspected rubble of a five-storey school building hit by the disaster. The PM and his delegation noted the earthquake details available in the museum and updates of the post-disaster reconstruction efforts.

The local government officials informed the delegation members that they had the target of completing the reconstruction works within the next three years.

Also today, Prime Minister Oli visited the Zipingpu Dam. The 760-Megawatt project provides irrigation facilities to around one million hectares of land directly benefitting 26 million people.

Likewise, the Prime Minister visited the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Dujiangyan Base, and took note of the efforts being made to preserve the rare species of Panda in the country.

Prime Minister Oli and his delegation are scheduled to fly back home from Chengdu on Sunday.