What does Sichuan look like a decade after the tragic 2008 earthquake?

How is Sichuan holding up a decade later? - Almost 70,000 people lost their lives when the Sichuan earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck the Chinese province. The force of the earthquake was felt far from the center, in the cities of Shanghai and Beijing, and any houses left standing are now abandoned. It will have been a decade since the earthquake on May 12. Click on the following gallery to see what Sichuan and the surrounding areas look like after 10 years have passed.

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In the rubble - A man walks towards the ruined Beichuan High School before inhabitants were evacuated.

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Present day - The site is now a memorial.

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Book - An abandoned book in a classroom at Beichuan Vocational Education Centre.

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Abandoned - The centre was abandoned after the earthquake.

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Net - A net left by the Japanese Red Cross protects residents from mosquitos in this house in Chen Mingyou.

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Painful memory - Twenty-seven-year-old Zheng Haiyang sits in a wheelchair in front of a memorial built in memory of the victims. He lost his legs during the earthquake.

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Lost house - Ninety-five-year-old Liu Guizhen sits among the rubble of her house in Beichuan, Sichuan. She still lives in the house destroyed by the earthquake.

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New generation - Wang Shiming, 11, and Wang Shiqi, 13, are Liu Guizhen's great-grandsons. Here they watch TV in the damaged house.

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Buildings in ruins - Almost all of Beichuan's buildings were left in this state after the earthquake shook the region. The area looks like a concrete cemetery.

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Ruined landscape - The destruction clear from above.

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Abandonment - Abandonment and destruction takes over the province of Sichuan.

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Lives left behind - In Wenchuan County, the earthquake's damage is clearly visible. The ruins still contain personal items from before the disaster.

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Exploring - This photo shows the abandoned Beichuan Vocational Education Centre from inside a vehicle.

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Memories - A photo of Mao Tsé-Tung in a ruined shrine in Wenchuan County.

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Personal history - Relics of family life in a damaged apartment.

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Rubble - A basketball hoop in the rubble of Beichuan High School.

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Abandoned - The Beichuan Vocational Education Centre is left barely standing.

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Praying - A Buddhist woman prays in front of the ruins of Beichuan High School in honor of the victims.

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Faces never forgotten - Photographs of the victims who lost their lives in the earthquake are hung in the Agricultural Bank of China.

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Ruins - Beichuan in 2008, right after the earthquake struck the region.

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Going nowhere - The dry river bed is synonymous with the devastation suffered in Beichuan. The area is left abandoned even after a decade.

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Streets - Roads lead to abandoned towns in the Wenchuan mountains.

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Caring for the deceased - A man attends a grave during the Qingming Festival. The Chinese festival is also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day.

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Before - Beichuan right after it was hit by the devastating earthquake.

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After - And 10 years after the earthquake.

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A door - All that is left of villager Wang Guocheng's home is the door.

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Difficult to leave behind - Ma Qingan is another villager still living in his damaged home in Wenchuan County.

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Nature takes over - The city has been reclaimed in the decade since the earthquake.

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Statue - A statue in the middle of a ruined school in Beichuan.

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