A Sad Anniversary - The Wenchuan Earthquake

Four years ago this afternoon, at 2:12pm, the ground began to shake underneath the mountains of western Sichuan Province. By the end of the day, entire cities were flattened, hillsides had fallen into rivers, 90,000 people were dead, and millions had lost loved ones.

I remember what I was doing when I heard the news.  I was in a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and during a break someone said they were getting reports of an earthquake in Sichuan.  At the time the death toll was still just in the dozens. Along with the rest of the world, we watched in horror and sadness as the death toll mounted...and mounted....and mounted.

Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard the news? Leave a comment and tell your story.

(image source: The Big Picture)

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Comments

[sandy]

A few days before May 12th, we purchased the new National Geographic magazine which highlighted China with a nice, big map of the country. In the busyness of packing we never read it, but packed it with our carry-ons to enjoy on during the long flight. Early that morning we boarded a plane in Dayton Ohio and headed to Chicago to connect with our plane bound for BJ. On the news in Dayton, there were reports of a "small earthquake in a desolate (not many inhabitants) area of China." By the time we left Chicago, approx 12 hours after the earthquake, reports we beginning to tell the magnitude of the horror. During the long flight, we opened our magazine, unfolded the map and chatted with fight crew personnel, seat-mates, strangers and dozens who were interested in learning more about the area where the earthquake was located. Sadly, some knowledgeable (SiChuan residents) people told us the news reports were wrong - many thousands of people lived in that area and surely, there lots of casualties & injuries. We offered our warmest thoughts and hopes to each one.

[Amy]

I was on a train from Siping to Beijing. I got two texts at about the same time, one from Qufu and one from Beijing about an earthquake (telling me for obvious reasons AND because I had lived in Sichaun for five years). I was confused at first. Was the earthquake in BJ? Qufu? Sichuan? Text is not the easiest way to communicate catastophic events and truly capture the magnitude (I do appreciate the texts, it just took a while for me to really process what had happened!). Amy

[CQ mary beth]

I was in the States on summer break and was woken up by a text message from a friend saying there was an earthquake in Sichuan. It was 8 am so i said a few curse words and then went back to sleep. When i woke up again i started looking it up online and was heart broken by what i saw. My Chinese host family and most of my friends from the exchange program i was in were in Chengdu. Of course i was really worried but later my host sister called me and told me everyone i knew was okay. She also said that there were lots of aftershocks so everyone was staying and sleeping outside, too afraid of another bad earthquake. Apparently all the teachers had fled campus, presumably to take care of their families, so all the students felt really alone.

Now im in CQ teaching several students from the affected area. One student told me the only reason he survived is because he jumped out his classroom window. Most of his classmates died. It's truly heart-wrenching but im so thankful to be back in this area.

[Joey_chiang]

I was able to visit that area just a few weeks ago. Though reconsctruction has been amazing, there's still plenty of chilling evidence of the quake - a bridge that was fallen, landslides along roads that I was told still have vehicles and bodies buried within...