By Liu Qian, a senior student at Beichuan high school (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_522a0e4501009m4r.html), 21:43:54 May 17, 2008

The day of the earthquake

It was a day of blood and tears. We were a class of graduating students and were sitting having lunch at the school and chatting about our futures. Life seemed wonderful.

But then we felt a violent jolt; fans, fluorescent lights, stone slabs, bricks and slates rained down on us.

The whole building suddenly collapsed. We could hear cries of agony and screams for help from underneath the rubble. My classmates were buried alive in front of me. Some of their bodies were unrecognizable. It is a terrible thing to watch your friends die.

I lost all sense of physical pain but I was tortured inside. The surviving students gathered on the sports ground that night. We lay close to each other staring at the awful sky, hand in hand, in the freezing cold.

I can't help thinking, does nature envy our happiness? Why did it take so much from us? Why were we chosen to suffer? Why did it happen to us? Why?

Searching for relatives

To my dear dad, mum, sister, and all my fellow citizens,

Where are you? Are you OK? This is Liu Qian. Where are you? It's been four days since the earthquake and I still haven't heard from you. Are you OK? I have been calling your names, have you heard me? Where on earth are you?

I am at the Changhong fitness center. It's safe here. Everyone here has been very kind. They've given me everything I need. They said I could write anything I like to you. What I want the most is just to hear from you, anything, even a single word.

Dear friends, I know you are all good people. Please help me find my family. I just want to know where they are and if they are safe, any of them, at least one of them.

My father's name is Mu Guangxing and my mother's name is Yang Jinhua. My little sister, Mu Xianju, is only 12 and still at Primary School.

Please, please help me find them. Thank you all so much.

A grateful heart

Soon after the earthquake, the teachers and students from our school were sent to Mianyang Jiuzhou stadium.

Volunteers helped us with our luggage; nurses rushed around taking care of the injured; people arrived from everywhere to donate clothes and money.

We are all 5.12 survivors and we must work together to rebuild our home town. Please do not despair; China is undaunted and the Chinese people are undaunted too.

Nothing can ever frighten us again after we cheated death this time. Let's be kind and generous to each other. Let's forget all personal resentment in this time of national crisis. If we believe in ourselves, we will overcome.

(China.org.cn May 18, 2008)