Shell in China

If you want to help out, the International Red Cross/Red Crescent is accepting donations on behalf of earthquake victims. It would mean a lot to Thad and me if you could give a small donation. After having lived here for 2 years, we have been able to see how little some of these families had even before the disaster. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated and go far.

With love, from China,

Shell

Hello all! This is my offical check-in blog. First of all, I want to say thank-you to everyone who has either emailed or contacted my family to check on us after the earthquake. I really appreciate all of the love and concern over the past few days. They have been rough, but it was nice to know that people at home were aware of what was happening and able to get information. So, thank you and know tha t we are safe, if somewhat shaken.

With that said, let me tell you about the last few days here. Thad and I live just north of the Sichuan border and as earthquakes don't stop for politically drawn lines on the map, we have been impacted. The earthquake hit at 2:30 on Monday afternoon. Thad was with his friends (4 high school classmates were in town visiting) on a nearby mountain and they watched the landslides come down in a circle around our town. (We live in a bit of a bowl.) They were safe and he will have to tell you his experience, as it is quite different from my own. As for me, I was on the fourth floor of our apartment building, talking with two other foreign teachers. We were sitting at a table when Rachel said she was moving. We initially thought it was a big construction truck driving by, as they can make things rattle a bit. After a second we realized this was much bigger and made a run for it. (Chinese buildings do not have earthquake safety built in and the concrete structure was not a good place to be.) We headed out the door at a sprint, yelling down the hallway to get others going. The hallway was just shaking, but it was the stairwell that was the scariest. Cement chunks were dropping around us as we ran. I felt like I was in one of those carnival funhouses where the stairs go back and forth and you giggle as you try to climb them. But, there was no giggling. Just terror. Once we made it out of the building, the ground continued to move. I don't know how long it is officially being reported as having lasted, but I am estimating close to an etenity.

Once the ground stopped moving, we hauled all of the students to the football field for a head-count and then we stayed there for the afternoon and night. We all slept under a beautiful, cloudless sky, but it was COLD! Throughout the night there were strong afterschocks.

On Tuesday we were up early as the school continued to deal with the situtation. STudents were not allowed to go home. We have been given conflicting stories about how safe the buildings are. Provincial leaders came down yesterday and said all foreigers must leave town. We have been evacuated to Tianshui, a town about three hours north. That is where I am now. We are waiting for permission to go home, although we do not know if we will be able to live in our building again. Our building has very large cracks in it and even if they deem it safe, I have to honestly say it will be difficult to sleep there the first night back. Although we are safe, I can't say strongly enough how frightening it was at the time.

All of my students are safe as well. There were a few stampeding type injuries, but nothing too serious. Today we have been told the military dropped supplies from helicopters. I wish we were allowed to be there to help, but we were told in no uncertain terms that we would be taken out. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will go back tomorrow.

SO that is the short story. I will try to keep you updated. We are safe though.

With love,

Michelle