"It was a nightmare," said Li Yao's mum, a 39-year-old woman living in Hongbai Township of Shifang City in the northern part of Sichuan Province, one of the worst hit areas in the 7.8 Richter's scale earthquake.
Like every other day, Little Li Yao had gone to school with her friends after having lunch at home. Soon after the lesson started, they heard a kind of low frequency noise from underneath the ground, followed by serious shaking of the whole building. Li Yao rushed to the door screaming with other children.
Right at that moment, Li Yao felt a big push by someone from behind her back. By the time she realized what was happening, she found herself lying in the courtyard on the ground floor. She had fallen from the third floor, with the whole three-story school building collapsing into debris behind her.
Li Yao was found in the debris by her parents who survived and rushed from their ruined home to her school. Her clothes were covered in blood when she was pulled out, but miraculously she had only minor injuries, including scratches on the left side of her face and legs where she had landed.
The disaster had not only destroyed Li Yao's school, but also made the family homeless. Not even a piece of cloth could be taken out from their collapsed home.
Huddling together, Li Yao and her family sat under a tree throughout the night. "It got quite dark soon after the shock, and started to rain. Many houses collapsed, survivors were crying and calling names of their family, trying to dig out their members from the ruined buildings".
Thinking of that horrible night, Li Yao's mum couldn't help but burst out with crying. "I have never experienced such a dark night, the earth kept shaking, crying and shouting never stopped in the whole night".
What appeared after daybreak was even more devastating: Hongbai Township, once very prosperous, was now a ruined place with debris where buildings had once stood.
The town hospital was also seriously damaged. In front of its collapsing gate were long lines of injured people waiting for medical aid.
