Earthquake!

While attending a watercolor class in downtown Emei City (three hours south of Chengdu), my wife and I experienced the Sichuan Earthquake. We were in a six-floor, small office building when the earthquake hit at 2:29 PM.

The building shook violently for around 4 minutes before we exited it.

As we were exiting the building, I took a picture of a large crack on the fourth-floor wall.

Once on the street, the area began to fill up with people, most of whom were in shock and dazed.

Not only the people, but also a small sparrow which seemed totally disoriented. A Chinese pedestrian picked the small bird up and set it on his finger like a pet canary. I even petted it before taking the following pictures:

We then began to look for a taxi to get back to the Emei campus of Southwest Jiaotong University to see if our apartment had been damage. The crowds on the streets were getting larger and larger each passing minute.

The Chinese kept telling us to keep away from the buildings and there was an atmosphere of fear and tension as we walked toward the bus stop.

We finally caught a bus (no taxis available) for the fifteen or twenty minute ride back to the campus. Once on campus we found students roaming the streets and looking for a place to sleep outside as directed by the administration. Things were chaotic but our apartment was still intact.

The Earthquake of 12 May 2008 will long be remembered!