The Moment When Mountains Came Alive 2 July 2008 The following is a brief translation of a firsthand account of the Sichuan earthquake by a woman in the very centre of the quake Qingping (清平乡):
I have a nearly two-year old baby and the baby has a habit to take an afternoon nap. However on May 12, he became so restless after lunch and did not want to sleep, so I took him to the vegetable garden behind my house which was built half way up a mountain. At 2:28pm, I suddenly felt the ground under my feet trembling violently. I was stunned, looked up, and saw a hill opposit emitting fire from its crown into the sky, and muddy streams rushing down from the top of the mountain where my house was situated. Around, the hills all became alive, roaring and screaming as if in panic and in pain. It was at that moment I realised that there was an earthquake. Without thinking, I carried my baby and ran like mad towards the hillfoot, but soon I was confrounted with a gorge and a 3 metre drop. Holding my baby tight in my arms, I jumped down and landed in the valley. When I eventually had a chance to catch my breath, I witnessed two hills in front of me swayed as if drunk, eventually crashed into each other and became one mount. The powerful invisible force tossed rocks and stones into the air, and black smokes rose from here and there. Soon the violent earth calmed down, but I couldn't locate that well-trodden mountain trail leading to the foot of the hill - it completely disappeared; nor could I find a 900m deep gully - in its location a new hill was born. I turned my head to view my house, but I saw nothing, not even a giant fengshui tree at the entrance of our village. Before I could gether my thoughts to understand what had just happened before me, the second wave of the violent quake erupted, with numerous new ponds and lakes emerging from nowhere that blocked my way down the mountain. In some areas the ground cracked into ravines, and in other places the earth was squeezed into gorges and mounts. The whole landscape just became completely unrecognisable, and I could only let my instinct help me to find my way down the hellish mountain. It was a horrible journey in which I had to negotiate through a new born world, much younger than the baby in my arms, but I eventually reached a relieve centre, some 8 hours later. (Source of info: travel.icxo.com) Pre: Kungfu Pendas
Related:
More:
|
|
