( CNN ) -- Chinese government authorities have intimidated and unlawfully detained parents and relatives of children who died in last year 's Sichuan earthquake and harassed their supporters , an Amnesty International report said this week . Rubble litters Beichuan , China , nearly a year after an earthquake killed thousands . The 52-page report , released Sunday and titled `` Justice Denied : Harassment of Sichuan Earthquake Survivors and Activists , '' documented instances where parents and relatives said they had been detained for up to 21 days for trying to get answers from officials about their children 's deaths . Some said they had been detained several times . `` By unlawfully locking up parents of children who died , the government is creating more misery for people who have said in some cases they lost everything in the Sichuan earthquake , '' said Roseann Rife , deputy program director of Amnesty International Asia-Pacific . `` The government of China must cease harassing earthquake survivors who are seeking answers and trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives . '' CNN was not immediately able to get a response to the report from the Chinese government 's Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Justice . The report accused authorities of having prevented parents and relatives from complaining to higher officials about the quality of construction in the buildings that collapsed , referred to by critics as `` Tofu Dregs Construction . '' It further alleged that many parents complained that their phones had been tapped and that they were arbitrarily detained so they would not be able to seek justice in the courts . The human-rights organization called on Chinese authorities `` to take immediate action to address the grievances of survivors and relatives of those who were killed or injured '' during the 8.0 magnitude earthquake , which struck at 2:28 p.m. May 12 , 2008 , when many children were in school . As of September , official figures put the death toll at 69,227 , with another 17,923 people missing . No official accounting of student deaths has been released , though artist Ai Weiwei has posted the names of 4,827 children who died in the quake , the report said . Parents and survivors have said school buildings were disproportionately affected because they were shoddily constructed , and they have accused government officials and construction contractors of being responsible . The report cited Sichuan Executive Vice-Governor Wei Hong as stating that the earthquake itself was the most important cause of the collapse . But such arguments were not persuasive to some parents . `` Except the school building , other buildings in Beichuan county did not collapse during the earthquake , '' said the father of a 15-year-old who died at Beichuan Middle School . `` What kind of earthquake was this ? ''
Amnesty International says China `` must cease harassing '' survivors . Relatives detained for seeking answers about children 's deaths , report says . Official death toll from May 12 quake is 69,227 ; 17,923 are missing . Comment: