Eyewitness: Life in a tent city

Xiang Xiao Wen is a student who survived the earthquake in China's Sichuan province. Like thousands of others, she is now living in a tent in the hard-hit city of Mianyang.

Many in Mianyang are living in tents on the streets

The earthquake happened last Monday and our dorms were evacuated. There are four tent cities. Everybody is sleeping under tents.

The tents are so wet and we feel so cold. Many students feel uncomfortable but we must live in the tent. Although there are many difficulties after the earthquake we will do our best to overcome them.

Yesterday it rained all day. Today the weather is better.

There are no canteens and supermarkets so we must cook for ourselves. We have got some food and vegetables to eat.

Clearing rubble

After the earthquake, I and many students together cleaned all the rubble from our classroom and our dorms. Many of the dorms were destroyed and there was a lot of rubble which we had to clear.

Some students are helping at hospital. Some students are clearing the rubble. Many people are homeless and many are dead.

We carried the injured to hospital. There were no buses so we walked to hospital. Many people tried their best to make sure people could live.

With the injured, we first let people calm down and then we took them to hospital.

Today, I think people have enough food and drinking water. I think things will be better now.

But there are other people in this disaster area who need much more food and drinking water.

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