Day 3 May 14, 2008, Wednesday

Death toll at 4 pm: 14,463
Buried : 25,788
Injury toll: 64,746

The Children that made the Grown Men Cry

One particular footage looped over and over on the main Chinese networks in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and found its way to youtube.com

A young girl, probably no more than 12, sobbed as a old man spoke to her. He told her “Don't worry, the government will care about you.” He repeated that a few times. The camera stayed on her, as he continued to offer a deluge of reassurances that she would be fine. Her body keep shaking as she tried unsuccessfully to stop sobbing. She sat among the quake orphans, waiting for news of her loved ones.

The old man turns around to give instructions to the officials around. It is Chinese premier Wen Jia Bao. The first top official to arrive in Sichuan, less than a day after the quake, netizens in China have lauded appreciation on their leader for the concern he has shown.

The scene went on for about a minute, a long time in TV terms. Then it cut to the officials around him. They too were moved to tears. In front of the television, millions too were left teary-eyed.



She has now been reunited with her sister who saw the footage of her with Premier Wen on TV.





In the ruins of a kindergarten in Beichuan county, a six-year-old lay trapped, the lower half of her body all bloody.

"Don't worry, I am not scared," she reassured rescuers.

With little tools, the team was taking a long time to get her out from where she was. Just as they were beginning to panic, they heard her begin to sing a familiar nursery rhyme.

" If I sing I will not feel scared."

Two heroes in Dujiangyan are barely nine. One is Yue Xiaolong. He ran from his classroon when the quake started. Then the eight-year-old saw two girls who were his junior in school, stunned, not knowing what to do. The teacher called out for all of them to lay flat on the open ground. Xiaolong pulled them along, made them lie down and threw himself over them. Around them the buildings started to fall.

Talking to a counsellor later, Xiaolong said he saw lots of "uncles" in uniform pulling people out from the rubble, so he too wanted to grew up so he could save more lives.

Lin Hao, nine, had walked for seven hours with two sisters to get to Dujiangyan. His older sister had found him outside his primary school where he had earlier saved the lives of two of his ten classmates who survived.

The two children fell onto Lin Hao as the corridor collapsed onto them. Lin Hao used all his might to climb out, and pulled one friend along. His friend passed out and Lin Hao ended up piggybacking him to the principal. Incredibly, he went back for his other friend and carried him out. Lin Hao suffered injuries for bearing the weight of the two children not too much smaller than him, and is waiting for news of his parents.

15-year old Xiao Xue kept calling out to her classmate Xiaoya, who sat next to her in class, as she lay bandaged on the hospital bed. In the rubble Xiaoxue was calling out for her parents to come save her, when she heard Xiaoya's cries.

“ I am here, Xiaoya,” she shouted. Xiaoya held out her hand and Xiaoxue reached for it, as the two of them grabbed onto each other for support. Knowing that Xiaoya had sustained head injuries, Xiaoxue reassured her friend that they would be rescued and Xiaoya promised to wait with her friend till that happened.

Two hours alter, they heard noises and knew that it was happening. But so was the very thing she feared.

“ I can't hang on anymore. You must promise me that you will live on!”

Those were the last words Xiaoxue heard from her friend, as her grip gradually loosened. By the time they were rescued, Xiaoya had stopped breathing for hours.



Two Chinese-Americans, 9, send an email of condolence to the China's People Daily.

Click here for the actual text in Chinese.
Below is the English translation.

To all the children of Sichuan Province's Wenchuan County,

We just received news of the earthquake that happened. From CCTV 4 (a Chinese satellite channel) we saw the damage it caused, so many buildings were destroyed, so many people hurt, we feel really sad, and are specially worried for the thousands of children who are trapped. We can imagine your schools are broken and destroyed, your situation now must be very difficult.

We wish so much we could join the relief efforts to save the children in the disaster. Only, we are thousand of miles away in the United States, we don't know how to help the children in the Wenchuan area. We only just called our father who is on business in China and he gave us an idea. We thought, we can give the pocket money we saved in our piggy banks to the children. We will let Papa send the money to the Chinese Red Cross. The affected children must need classrooms, desks, blackboards, books and other school supplies.

We hope, whether in China or outside, children can join in the donation efforts for the children in the disaster. One person's strength is definitely weak, but if millions join their powers and hearts, it will make a great difference!

We hope all the children in the affected areas will be safe!

We hope you know that we will be thinking of them!

We hope that you can go back to school soon and start a new life.


Yu Ping and Yu Fu, 9
From Illinois, United States

OTHER NEWS


China's most famous export to the American NBA, Yao Ming, centre for the Houston Rockets, announces that he is donating 500, 000 yuan ( US$ 71, 000)

Chinese public and businesses raises 860 million yuan ( US$123 million) internally for earthquake victims.

Half of the 6,000 tourists stranded in one of China's most visited National Parks in northern Sichuan, JiuZhaiGou, have been evacuated by air by by land to bordering Gansu province. The remainder will leave by tomorrow.

Eight towns have been completely levelled by the earthquake. 1,200 rescuers from the Chinese military are walking into the most affected area, which still remains inaccessible to traffic. Other rescuers have also been travelling by river, but they face the threat of falling rocks from mountains on both banks. Food has been airdropped into the area. There are also plans to airdrop mobile phones and re-established contact with areas still cut off.

At the epicentre of Wenchuan county, there is a severe lack of food, water, blood supplies, medication and shelter. Every day 35 tonnes of food are required to feed the victims. another 12,000 tents are needed to hold them.

15 paratroopers have parachuted into Maoxian County located some 4,000 metres above sea level. This required them to jump from a height of 4,999 metres. This is a particularly dangerous exercise as they are only trained to jump from several hundred metres. The official media has published their names. According to reports, they have all written their wills before departure as well.

One of the 15 paratroopers was Sichuan native, Ren Tao, 任涛, who had undertaken the mission, despite losing his grandmother.

*Videos on this page have been added after post was made.