At 11:50 am BJ time 5/15, we just received via a comment on our earlier post of what appears to be a first-hand account of a 12 hour, 30 kilometre walk by students and teachers from the earthquake danger zone. We are posting the comment exactly as it was left (with a few typos corrected). Min is trying to contact the writer to interview her and to verify the story by phone or email. Stay tuned while we learn more…
Update by Min: I just talked to Zeng Juan (曾娟), an English teacher from 四川理工大学 成都美术学院 (Chengdu College of Fine Art) for about 15 mintues. The following report is an interview done by Juan after 64 students and 3 teachers (冉，钱 and 秦) went back from Tai An (泰安) to Chengdu(成都) safely. Three groups of students, each led by a teacher, went to Tai An town around Qingcheng Mountain (青城山) for outdoor sketch last Sat. (May 10). Supporting each other, 67 students and teachers walked for 12 hours and got back to college at around 9:30 am, 19 hours after the Wenchuan earthquake.
Juan also told me the current status in Chengdu and her college: None of the students in the colleges in Chengdu were hurt by the earthquake itself. But in extreme panic, a few of them got hurt by jumping from second floor of the building. She was at home when the earthquake happened and she thought it was a natual gas tan explosion when she heard huge sound and saw smoke. Currently, most of the local students in her school have gone home and the students from other provinces are staying in the conference hall and art museum of the school. Quan felt very sad about one of her friends who lost his wife in the earthquake. She works in Mian Yang (绵阳). — 6:27pm May 15.
New Long March–Walking Out of Death Zone in Earthquake China (by Juan Zeng)
As a teacher in Chengdu Arts College, Sichuan Technology University, Chengdu, I’d like to report the Long March about my students who had walked out the death zone in earthquake.
After 12 hours walking about 30 kilometres without any food or drink in heavy rain and wind, they escaped from death. Besides this, they helped others to escape. They are my heroes. I’d like to record this for my wonderful students to show my respect. The love is the way to life and hope.
In anxious expectation, under the sign of Chengdu Arts College, Sichuan Technology University, applauding hands, the presidents and the other staff warmly welcomed the first group students (all girls) of the 64 students and 3 teachers in muddy clothes whom had been out to paint since last Saturday, came back at 8:45 a.m. on the 13th of May. Later, the second group (all the boys) came back at about 9:30. By then, all the students and teachers had been back completely and safely.
The ginger soup for them to drink to protect themselves from cold is waiting on the table in dinning hall. The hot rice and delicious dishes are also waiting quietly. With tears, they had their first mouth of food after one and half days and one night. However, the long match that they walked still fresh on their hearts, escaping from hell, the destroying earthquake Qingcheng Mountain [青城山], 20 kilometers from Du Jiang Dam [都江堰] the almost ruined city 36 kilometers from the epicentre, Wen chuan.
It is 11:30 on the 12th of May, in Tai An [泰安镇]ancient town, after morning painting, they went back to Longjiale, one hostel run by local resident, to have lunch. After lunch, in the leadership of Mr. Ran, He qui and some of his classmates came back to the old look town to paint. At about 2:30, they heard of some noise like big trucks passing right besides them. By then, He Qui was at the most front. Heard of ? run?, He turned back to see and found almost all classmates were running away , leaving all the canvas and brushes and paint. Without knowing what was going on, he ran after them. Had run away less than 5 steps, he felt choking. No sooner than he had cleaned his eyes, he found the walls collapsed and the bursting breaks stayed next to his feet. The tiles fell down from the roof like raining. The cars and motorcycles next to walls were twisted in breaks and other materials. Some residents there jumped off balconies from the houses and someone rushed into the tiles and breaks raining to carry their old parents out. He realized that this was earthquake. He wanted to run. However, the legs got not strength.
After the first wave, this team led by Mr. Ran came together and worried about the other two teams, as they were divided into three teams, each team with one teacher, scattered around this old town. However, the phone communication was cut off after the earthquake. As someone were painting at the waist of the mountain there, He Qui thought they might not escape from their fate. Anyhow, he and the other two students decided to look for them to assemble together later.
As to the other two teams, some were also in the ruined town, but someone still in hostel in their sleep. Sun Ximing was there, sleeping alone in his room. When it happened, he woke up and found the books and luggage kept falling down to floor or on his body. He figured out it must be an earthquake. He rushed down, with shoes in hands. It was too late for him to get out. He had to stay under the gate. Around him, the rain of breaks and tiles and windows was going on. Outside of the raining, some people were crowding little far away. Afterwards, he knew many people jumped off this hostel and got injured badly. Time ran so slowly at this moment. At least, the ground did not quake and it seemed to be an interval. He went back to his floor to check whether anyone left there. He found 8 classmates in two rooms and led them get out of the dangerous building. Out there, they found their leading teacher, Mr. Qing, like kids found parent. They counted all the assembling students there, only 27. The bird view of the old town was disaster, everything all ruined. It looked like nobody would survive in that ruins. Coincidently, all their mobile phones happened to be cut off. Thought of the fetal disaster for their classmates, some people began to cry. Worried too much, Sun Ximing asked Mr. Qing many times to go to look for the other classmates. Considering his safty, Mr.Qing did not allow. In a difficult long time, the earthquake seemed to calm down and came to a pause. At last, Mr. Qing allowed him to go to look for the others.
Running down from the slop, he walked anxiously over all the debris and rubbles and bits. Coming in front of a bridge, he discovered that the cement bridge had been bending down like a curve and hanging in the heavy wind. Crunched teeth, he ran over it and found nothing but ruins. Walked about one miles farther, he found the other team all hide in one low place, like a basin. Everyone got so excited to meet him. Counted, there were 37 students. He told me that he felt much more released after got the number. Thank goodness, everyone was alive.
After short discussion, they decided to keep their position as this. As the wind blew more heavily and the sky became much darker, everyone knew a shower was coming and they sent more boys with him to go back to bring umbrellas or rain coats.
On his way back, he ran into some students from another university, who just arrived at 11:30 this morning and whose leading teachers and another 12 students were missing after earthquake. With them, the other two teams and two teachers, from the college, in total there were almost more than 120. Exchanged the information and got to know the situation that one of them had been dead. He invited them to come with him. He said that at that moment, he thought all the survivals right then must sick together and all friends indeed.
Then over the hanging broken bridge, he ran into some old people, who came from Chengdu University for the Old and were traveling here. He invited them to come with him. His ?army? expanded once more. From these old grandpa and grandma, he got to know that when it happened, they were at the top of this mountain. They felt the entire mountain bouncing around and the roof, tiles, walls, and windows just all flied away. They hold one big tree there together. They saw some painting students there too. One student tried to jump into the river to flee away. However, he was soon buried by the rocks, earth erosion and trees. Some people were just buried in the breaks before they moved their feet to run. All the buildings were at bits like blown by tornado, no shape left but debris. All happened so fast. They had to bare seeing them dying even without giving a scream but could not give a hand…
Back to the contemporary site, one open area protected by the trees around, he collected the raincoats and umbrellas to give the classmates to take back for the other part. Under the leadership of Mr. Qing, the students were building some simple tents, three bamboos and one sheet of plastic donating from the owner of the hostel. They donated their clothes for the injured people to wrap and put all the food together and then distributed them to each one including the students from other college and the old travelers, and the injured people around. They invited them to shelter in these small tents. No sooner than they finished building the tents, the heavy shower had come. After forked and branched, 8 people sharing one tents. As the tents were so small, they had to sit tightly with each other in a circle. The shower turned into heavy rain, endless. It was so cold. Companying with the enormous landslides, at least 4 times right in front of their eyes on the opposite and the next mountains, 2 times or more little further away, nobody barely slept. The waves after earthquake came back frequently, on and off, each time with heart beaten violently. It was a long, freezing and wet night.
At 6 o?clock the morning on 13th, the teacher and students discussed and decided to self-help before the security team came over—-walking out of the mountains. As one message janitor, Sun Ximing ran with the other two to go all the way to send the message to the other part. They agreed at once. Then they all packed up, following the discipline that only one back bag and to make sure two hands empty. Later the local people there brought them some porridge and steamed bread. They were so moved, because the people there got nothing left but debris. If it can be called porridge, it must because that there had 3-5 pieces of rice left at the bottom after drinking. He told me he had two big bowls of this and half bread, as the bread was not enough, one person, one half. However, that was worthy more than any meal after the cataclysm.
As the roads to outside have already been destroyed and blocked, they had to look for the other road. Under the direction of the secretary of Wan shou (万寿, longevity) village community, they were informed of the available short cut through the mountains. Assisting with the direction from the local people and the local militia that scattered every several hundred of meters, At 8 o’clock, the big march, including students, teachers, old traveler and some people from Tai an Ancient Town set off.
It was a long march, that had taken them 12 hours climbing and running over three big mountains before they connected to college. When some students recalled back, they could not believe that they had made it, no water or food but terror. For some students who got no umbrellas or raincoat, it was much worse.
Under the leadership of teachers , they walked on the railway instead of road, as the running rocks and the hanging trees and the earth erosions all along it. However, the railway became some kind of pound in raining, so they had to fumble around, deep or shallow. As they reached the bus parking lot, over there, some villagers sent them boiled eggs, one person one egg, and asked them to tell people outside that they were still alive. They were moved to tears.
Now it was time to climb up the mountains. They queued up. The first mountain was so steep. The road through it was terrible, hanging on mountains,some part eroding , underneath the roaring river. At demand, they queued up and hand in hand. Mr. Qing, a teacher who was a big fun of climbing up mountains took the first step and told them where could step on and where not. They all concentrated on 100 percent totally. As to some paths or steps, as they were too slippery or too abrupt, they were not walking over but sliding down. At some terrifying parts, the boy students shouldered the girl students and the old to pass. At some narrow parts, they saw the hanging rocks and fallen big trees. It looked like they would crush into them directly within no time.
It came to a long slop, sharp at an angle of more than 60 degrees. It was almost 6 kilometres far. One of the students , Songming got sick ,because of scare and tiresome. On the muddy road, she barely could walk any further one more step and bad to worse her cute fragile slippers had been worn out already. Leaning on some boy students? shoulders, she were dragged on bare feet. After a while, she could not walk any more. She refused to take shoes from anybody else and cried to try to give up. By then, He kui, one classmate, forced her to wear his only shoes and then he was barefooted. With the supports and encouragements, they got out of there.
Crawling up or sliding down, they reached the highway. However its iron rails have been broken by the fell rocks, and it is blocked by erosions and big trees. Besides it, the overwhelming river was soaring angrily. They had to go through the small little suspension wood bridge over it, with two ends tied with iron wires on the big rocks, waving to the left and to the right in the heavy wind, while the river underneath was screaming hysterically like an avalanche. The teachers make a quick survey and decided two people once together to run over in case it would collapse at any time. As one pair and one pair ran over, Mr. Ran could not get Songjing on the bridge. At that time, He qui told Mr. Ran that he would be responsible for her. Trying to persuading without effect, he forced to carry her on his back to cross the waving wooden bridge. As he reached the opposite and put her down, he found she had already been faint and unconscious because of terror. From then on, each boy students carried her on their back to march.
As they crossed the suspension bridge, they ran into more people coming in for looking for their family members and some militia. They were very kind and informed of the condition of the road ahead, where needs running as soon as possible and where needs watching before running as the landslips were happening all the time on the mountains along it. After disastrous earthquake and heavy raining, many parts of mountains have been suspending and with each more slight wave or more raining, they might roll down at not time. Facing the places, they watched, waited and rushed to pass. Afterwards, as some students recalled and counted that during the 12 hours long march, at least, they had been running for 4 hours. Luckily as they ran out of the road, they ran into one ambulance, from which Songming get some glucose and got sense back. Still boys carried her on back in turn. Along the road, they could see the corpse burying in the rocks and mud that dyed with blood. They felt so sorry and determined to make sure everyone in this big team all survived.
Another thing here that I’d like to mention was that at someplace besides the road, there was a big grocery shop, window smashed, house broken and owner fled. Although they were so hungry and thirsty, they did not put one finger on it, as they thought the boss had already been suffered and bankrupt, they could not make him much worse.
After another 7 kilometers hard marching, they arrived at the back sides of Qingchen Mountain. There they saw three other college’s campus buses waited there. The students who joined them before got on their buses without saying anything and zoomed off. My students told me that it might be sad as they just lost one and someone’s life else unclearly or too tired to speak anything after such a long much. For them, they had to measure the roads by their feet.
Another 9 kilometres’ walking from the back side of Qingchen Mountain to Da guan Town [大观镇] became more and more difficult, like walking for ages but still endless. Their legs had already become numb. They were hobbling and limping. As some tricycles past by, some got on , 40 RMB. Per 6 people for the next 7 kilometres. The surplus had to hobble to Da guan city.
As they arrived at Da guan City, their mobile phones got react after all the way trying. The peeps of the messages that arrived and the sign for the untaken phones filled the whole screen. For a moment, they were reading all these warm messages from family, friends, each word warming heart. Even the sentence that ?have you been dead? Are you still alive??made them all tearing. They said that by then, they felt collapsing inside and the tears flooding out, although they had not shed any drop of tear during this long march. ? mother , father, I am still alive? that was all they could say. Crying covered anything else. At that moment, the anxious staff of college also got their call and released and some cried after such a long wait. They immediately dispatched the bus to fetch them at the best speed.
By then, they have walked about 30 kilometres during 12 hours, no food or drink.
When I visited them this afternoon after they had a rest in their contemporary shelters, some students were playing around like children and someone were chatting on the phones. As to their sleep, most of them told me that they could barely sleep, although being too tired. Their legs were sore and some still got no feeling except numb.
All above all, they felt lucky after escaping from death. As I asked them about what they felt after all this, they told me it was the support, friendship ,the teamwork and the determination that no one less that sustained them to get out and they would treasure the friendship forever. Furthermore, they have learned one very important lesson of life.
