The disaster, which has killed more than 1,000 people and left more than 4,500 missing in the two countries, has once again highlighted China’s tight grip on information surrounding disasters and its efforts to control what is — and is not — said about them.
The death toll is updated only once every few days, and access to the disaster area has been granted only to top-level state media outlets, which have avoided broadcasting the names or faces of the missing and their relatives in favor of videos showing the logistics of delivering aid or rescue dogs working hard.