Survivors talk of Chinese quake

Survivors talk of Chinese quake

Survivors are trying to cope as best they can

As efforts continue to help the survivors of this week's devastating earthquake in north-west China, some have been speaking of their experiences.

Huo Sanyi, who works for a farm equipment company, told the Associated Press news agency that he was watching television when his house began to shake.

"I immediately got off my bed and stood in a corner, using a quilt to protect my head as things started falling around me," Mr Huo said.

"At that time I wasn't scared. What else could I do? Now when I think about it, I'm scared."

The first shipments of relief goods - tents and cotton quilts - have reached the stricken areas in Xinjiang province, and the authorities are now calling for cash with which to rebuild communities in what is already one of China's poorest areas.

Almost 10,000 homes and 900 classrooms at 30 schools were levelled by Monday's quake. At least 260 people died and more than 4,000 were injured. Thousands of rescuers continue to sift through rubble to look for further survivors.

Two prisons near the epicentre have reported all their prisoners are safe and well

Xinhua news agency

Prisoners escape injury

Many in the affected provinces of Bachu and Jiashi counties have reflected on how lucky it was the quake occurred in the daytime, at a time when many were out working in the fields and hundreds of school pupils were holding a flag raising ceremony.

Urhan, a 60-year-old woman from Qiongkuerqiake township told China's People's Daily that her family was having breakfast at the time.

"I immediately pushed my two grandsons out of the room and quickly ran out, but I was knocked down by falling bricks and I crawled out. Minutes later, the house collapsed," she said.

Dawuti Aximu, a young Uighur man, told the paper: "Many were killed. I lost five family members in the quake. But we have no time to weep. We have to work for the living right now."

The quake had a severe effect on the local economy, which is heavily dependent on farming.

Some 11,000 cattle were killed and at just one farm in Qiongkuerqiake, 190 sheep were crushed. Local residents cannot eat them because they have not been butchered according to Muslim tradition.

The majority of Xinjiang's population are Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group who speak a Turkic-based language.

One man who sells traditional rice and roasted mutton in the town said he had re-opened "because we all have nothing to eat. Everyone has to eat".

"My house is gone. Three relatives are gone. But life goes on," he told AP.