CHENGDU: China's first earthquake museum opened Wednesday in the quake-hit Sichuan province, one day before the third anniversary of the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 which left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

The museum, covering 140,000 square meters, is located in Anren town in Dayi county in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, and is made up of six theme sections with 270 exhibits and 559 photos.

The square in front of the museum displays the damaged landscape using cobblestone grids. The orange and gray cubic architechture is supported by 56 pillars in the exhibition halls, representing China's 56 nationalities united to conquer the disaster.

Touching pictures of the victims, rescuers and other people who helped the victims are exhibited in the halls in different sections.

The project, costing 230 million yuan (34.85 million U.S. dollars), is designed by Shanghai-based Tongji University.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan and neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces on May 12, 2008, leaving 87,000 people dead or missing. In Beichuan, nearly 20,000 people were lost.