On may 6, I took my family to China to for a vacation, and it was a vacation that we would never forget. 6 days after arriving in China, an 8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan in Sichuan province. The city we were in was under 300 km away from the epicenter of the earthquake. (I know most news are still reporting the earthquake as a 7.8 or 7.9, but it was revised to 8.0 in China.)

Around 2:30 in the afternoon on the 12th, I was carrying my 9 months old daughter walking in the living room, and here's how the basic conversation went (between my mother and I) when the earthquake hit:

Mom: "Jim, did you feel that shake?"
Me: "What shake? Must be me walking..."
Mom: "No, you don't feel the shaking?"

By now, I had felt it, and when I looked at the LCD TV it was shaking violently, as was everything else, including the building - we live on the 8th floor. We made for the door as fast as we could. By the time we got to the door, it was shaking so violently that we had to brace ourselves against a wall, or railing, as we ran down 8 floors as fast as we could.

Moments after the earthquake, the streets and open areas were packed with people.

We ran to a safe spot in an open area across the street from our building. My wife was in the middle of her hair appointment when all this happened, and several minutes later, she found us in the massive crowd that had gathered in the park, hair still wet, and half finished. The violent inital shake lasted for about a minute or so, luckily, being almost 300km away, the force of the earthquake is greatly diminished. It was estimated that by the time it reached us, it was a 5.x (I can't remember the exact measure). I can't begin to imagine what the 8.0 would feel like.

In a matter of minutes, everything went from peace and calm, to panic and chaos - nothing else mattered at that moment other than survival. Granted, a 5.x earthquake is nothing compared to the 8.0 but the only thing on everyone's mind during those moments and the days following are "What if...". So for precautionary measures, millions of people slept out in the streets and in open areas for several days following the earthquake.

The night of the earthquake, no one dared to sleep under a roof.

A photo of the masses sleeping out in the open.

I got back to canada a few days ago (end of may), and by the time I left China, the news had been reporting that almost 70,000 people perished in the earth quake, and another 20,000 or more still unaccounted for, and over 350,000 injured. All I can say i that I'm sure glad to be back in Canada.