This WILL Leave You Quaking …

As luck would have it, I know a guy who knows a guy, who knows a guy named Ray.
Ray is an American in Chengdu. I have never met Ray, but I venture to say he is a remarkable man worthy of knowing. Ray was IN the earthquake. Here is his story in his own words that he wrote in an email home the day after on 13 May.
I don’t think he’ll mind that I am sharing this …

“Yesterday we had an earthquake. You probably saw it in the headlines.”

“HUGE quake. Definitely the biggest and longest I’ve ever experienced. I’ve heard 7.9. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I was out of town yesterday riding my motorcycle in the mountains close to the center of the quake. We started at 7am and traveled to and then through Dujiangyan, to an area known as Qingchang Mountain. This is an area that resembles the small winding roads through the Blue Ridge mountains, with rock overhangs, blind curves, the river boiling just a sheer drop away beside you. The damage where I was was EXTENSIVE and the loss of life still unknown despite the numbers you have been hearing. The earthquake struck almost exactly at 3pm. Miraculous circumstances put us in a position of relative safety and the opportunity to help those around us who didn’t even realize what had happened, only that their homes had just fallen down around them and buried friends and loved ones. “

“We were paused in a semi clear space at an intersection when the initial shockwaves were felt, and watched in awe as it continued for longer than any quake I’ve ever experienced, literally lasting more than one minute, amid the roar of collapsing buildings and the sound of landslides crashing through vegetation, construction, and buildings. It is a sound I will never ever forget. As the dust settled the eerie sound of one of the highest peaks in the mountain range disintegrating and hurling trees, boulders the size of a van, and tons of red earth crashing down directly towards us set the adrenaline pumping! We hurriedly picked our motorcycles up off the ground where they had been tossed by the shaking earth like children’s toys. First we raced under fallen electrical lines, through brick and mortar debris, broken glass and roof tiles, then realizing that the way was blocked, we turned around and raced back in the other direction, down the mountain, only to find that a landslide had buried everything in its path, including the road. Locals began coming out of their homes, restaurants, and shops in the surrounding area, limping, crying, carrying their loved ones, all shell-shocked, half dressed, covered in dirt and dust and blood, and completely unable to comprehend what had just happened, we crossed a stable bridge to the parking area in front of a now-demolished hotel and began to watch the number of people joining us continue to grow. Everyone watched in disbelief as the mountain across the river continued to dislodge huge parts of itself and cascade them directly down towards us, wondering if it would ALL come down and bury us. The aftershocks were enormous. Many of them must have registered as earthquakes of their own magnitude.”

“So, to make a long story short, because I’m STARVING and want to get a hot shower… There were four of us out riding that day, John, a Peruvian, Charlie, an American, and a Chinese friend of John’s, Angie. We were trapped overnight in the parking lot of the hotel, and as people started coming, John, with Angie as his translator, got out his medicine kit and began doing his best to help with head wounds, broken bones, severed digits, etc… Charlie and I started by finding some canopies, blankets, mattresses, etc… Then we set up two fire pits, a gas stove top, and rounded up all the other necessities we could find. As the day progressed about 150 people found their way out of collapsed homes, from under rubble, and up the river from other areas. We were able to get everyone fed and cared for as best as possible, and just as it began to get darker, the rain began. I will never forget the next 12 cold wet hours lying on concrete under a dripping tarp and feeling the earth shaking violently beneath me every 20 minutes. Listening to the river growing more and more violent and threatening to tear away parts of the river bank loosened by the shaking. Hearing, the mountain that we could no longer see above and across from us, eroding and threatening to come down on us. At six the next morning, with the rain continuing, vicious and un-abating, our group decided that we must abandon hope of rescue, and move to a more populous and hopefully safer area. So we all set off through the mud and rain on a trek that would, in the end, take almost seven hours, through scary slippery paths, tropical vegetation, over hilltops half caved in and threatening to slide down the mountain and into the river with all of us, over suspension bridges, and around washed out or buried roads just to get everyone to a place where they could be picked up by buses and moved further down to safety.”

“For us, we all left our motorcycles there and will have to go back in a few weeks to get them. It only took all of our remaining money, four more hours, three van rides, and a taxi ride to get back to Chengdu!”

“As we came back into Chengdu, I was struck by how untouched the city’s buildings seem after the complete devastation in the areas we’d been through. However I just got here a little bit ago, and I am going out to have dinner with friends and see how things happened here. Something must have happened, when I got home my place was littered with things fallen from shelves. A lot of the locals slept out in the streets last night, and will be doing so again this evening. Fortunately for them, it’s not raining.”

“For me, the earthquake hit at 3pm on Monday. I finally got home at about 4 today and started writing this note immediately, even as I do, my apartment is still being hit by aftershocks strong enough to make the entire building sway. BUT, I am going to have a hot shower, a warm meal, and I am going to sleep in my own bed, swaying or not tonight! I am alive, and unhurt, and THANKFUL!”

“Thank you all for your prayers, emails, texts, and calls! I’m sorry about the communications delay, but I hope this explains it.”