FirstPerson: Readers report on China quake

Relatives abroad
My wife and stepdaughter are from the Sichuan province. I have been there myself several times since 2004. Needless to say, my wife has been in constant contact with her family during the last 24 hours. Her immediate family is okay but shaken from the catastrophe, although my step-daughter's father is a member of the police force and has been hospitalized after a building collapsed during a rescue effort in Mianyang.

My wife is extremely distraught because she worked in the WenChuan region last year and had several coworkers, friends, and a boss whom she liked very much. Even though recent reports claim that rescuers have reached the hardest hit areas, BeiChuan, and WenChuan, actually some parts of WenChuan are still out of reach because of the mountainous area, heavy rain, and landslides.
—Matthew Walden, Indianapolis, Ind.

Streets choked with people in Xi'an
I am an ESL Teacher stationed in Xi'an, China. I began to feel the quake here at just after two in the afternoon. The others living in the apartment complex where I am began rushing outside, fearing the building might collapse. Even after the quake was over, the apartment building was swaying for several minutes.

During the quake, I could see people running outside. The Cell network throughout the entire are was severely disrupted for several hours. Even now, I am having a difficult time calling anyone on my cell phone.

After the quake was over, I went outside. Most of the apartment residents were milling around. The street was choked with people who had fled their businesses and apartments. Some were hysterical and crying. Traffic was almost at a standstill on my street.

The hysteria did not take long to die down and things quickly returned to a state of relative normalcy.
—Seth Weiner

Numerous aftershocks
I am currently staying in Pengshan, which is about 50 km south of Chengdu. When the earthquake hit, the people I am staying with were not quite sure what to do. I told them to stand in the doorway. After 2 minutes, the rumbling and shaking of the building stopped and we evacuated to the streets. Aftershocks have been numerous since the initial quake, which struck around 2:30. Businesses closed up very quickly and people took the streets. The roadways were packed and it was impossible to hire a cab. Currently, people are sleeping in the park because they are afraid to return to the "highrise" apartment buildings for fear of collapse as well as fresh memories from the series of earthquakes that struck in the 90s that were very destructive.

Even with the most recent aftershock, which just took place at 11:29 pm, I was asked if I wanted to take to the streets again.

After the quake itself, the police stations flashed a red alert light, notifying people that there was an emergency. Police cars patrolled the streets in droves to ensure that, depite heavy pedestrian traffic, order was maintained.

It was truly amazing to see how devoted the hospital staff in the affected area reacted. Newborns were all evacuated from the hospital by nurses as well as those who could walk, while nurses in ICU stayed at their posts to ensure that those patients remained well cared for. It is truly amazing to see how quickly the government has responded, not only in its dispatching of emergency services but volunteers, the army, and other organizations. I have never seen so many people act so selflessly to ensure the safety of so many.
—Charles Skowronsk

New building sustains little damage in Chengdu
I am an American living and teaching at a university about 25 km NE of Chengdu in Xindu which is  a district of Chengdu.  At the time of the quake, I was in a classroom on the 3rd floor of a university building.  The building is less than 5 years old and sustained with minimal damage.  None of the 45 students in my class were injured nor were any others that I noticed on the campus of about 12,000.

During the quake which lasted approximately 4 minutes, I stood in the doorway and directed my students away from the windows which run along one wall of the classroom.  They attempted to push past me into the hallway, but there were ceiling tiles and light fixtures falling from the ceiling.  I didn't allow them to leave the classroom until the shaking stopped.

When we did leave, we ran outside where others were gathered.  No one was allowed inside.  The only damage I noticed was a large 10 foot square stone exterior which fell from one of the buildings.

I live on the 11th floor of an apartment building.  In my apartment, some floor vases were broken, but there was no other apparent damage.  We were told to go to a park nearby and instructed to stay there for 2 days because of after shocks, but when it began to rain at about 11 pm, everyone went to their homes.

Mobile phone communications were out between the time the quake started until about 9 pm, intermittent until 11 pm.  At 9 pm, telephone, internet, and TV service was restored.
—Mark Repesh

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