And the earth shook

It has been a while since my last entry but much has happened since then and it has all been a bit overwhelming. By now all of you must have heard about the earthquake in China. Many of you might have thought that, as China is so very big, I would be nowhere near the disaster area. Well, I was! And I am. The earth shook and houses came crumbling down. It was felt all the way in Beijing and the bear centre is only 30 – 50 km from the epicentre. But we have been extremely lucky. No buildings came down and more importantly no one was hurt human or animal! After about 7000 aftershocks a few buildings have been deemed unsafe including accommodation for workers. I have also been camping out since the quake, sleeping on a mattress in the living room with a few other people. Unfortunately bear workers have family members that have been hurt or killed and family houses destroyed in the quake.

When the quake hit I was in Chengdu, on my way to pick up my passport. We couldn’t figure out why people where all running out of buildings onto the streets. Girls in high heels jumping over hedges, a guy in just his underwear running, to where I wander… Because we were in a car we hadn’t felt anything at first but we soon realised it was an earthquake when we saw buildings trembling and big signposts swaying. Within minutes the streets were filed with people. The roads where jammed. Hospitals where being evacuated. People taken as far away from buildings as possible. In a city this means the middle of the road. Those poor people were lain down on stretchers on the road to breath in the gasses from the slow passing cars. If the quake hadn’t killed them, this certainly would.
The severity of the earthquake wasn’t realized until much later. At first I also thought that it was just a small quake that had hit Chengdu. It wasn’t until we finally made it out of the city that we saw that it had hit a much wider area. The roads all the way back to the centre where busy and people where standing in fields away from buildings with fear on their faces. That first night thousands of people slept outside in the fields.
The bear centre was fine but in the weeks to come we also spend quite a few moments in fear as aftershocks silenced us and the very likely possibility of the dam upstream breaking sent us evacuating to Chongqing. There the embassies gave us all the support and info we needed. But it was with pain in our hearts that we had to leave the centre with only the minimum of people to take care of the bears.
Thankfully we were able to return soon and start work again. But the earthquake has not left
us unfazed. Before, we had already gone out to help the people that had lost their homes. Bringing medical supplies with us up a mountain and seeing the devastation first hand. Coming back with 2 dogs that had lost their owners. Now our vet-team is still going out to Dujiangyiang on a regular basis to pick-up and help dogs and cats. The stories we hear are heartbreaking. But to not make this update too long I suggest you do read Jill’s Blog. She writes about what we all have experienced during those thrilling weeks.

Thank you to all that have written in concern of my safety. It was good to know so many cared. I am well and very busy in my new job. I shall not be returning home earlier than planned even though our safety here cannot be guaranteed. But then again, life gives us no guarantees!!!