China Earthquake: A First-Hand Account

Even though the United States is far from China, both geographically and culturally, hearing about the devastating earthquake that recently occurred scared me to death for numerous reasons. Surely a 7.9 magnitude earthquake would scare anyone, but knowing that my friend Jen was in the middle of the destruction put me over the edge.

She had gone to Chengdu, China, the largest city in the Sichuan province for business in early May. We had talked on the phone a few times when she was there, but the time difference and expensive calling kept our communication to a minimum. As soon as I heard about the earthquake, it seemed as though there were only a few hundred casualties. But when the numbers soared higher, I panicked. Jen was right in the middle of the disaster in Chengdu and the Sichuan province, and as the bodies count went higher throughout the day, I feared that she too would become just a statistic amongst the chaos going on in the area.

Within hours, her parents contacted me from New York, begging me for any news about her. My heart sank in my chest when neither of us had positive news for each other. I know that Jen would contact her parents first if anything were to happen to ear, and I was fearing more than ever that she was possibly severely injured, or worse. I knew that developing countries had difficult times dealing with natural disasters and that it was possible that the huge earthquake took many people with it.

Good news came early on Wednesday morning when a fellow co-worker of Jen's called her parents in New York City and told them that she was in a Wuhan hospital in good condition and that she was no longer near the area where the earthquake hit worst. She had suffered a concussion and a broken arm in the earthquake, but would recover soon. I began to cry as I realized that Jen would return home soon.