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2008-05-20 issue:

Mennonites in the News: Bridgewater woman survives China quake

by Hannah Northey, Daily News Record

Print Article

HARRISONBURG, Va.—When an earthquake with a 7.9-magnitude struck China last week, Sheri Helmuth, 22, of Bridgewater, Va., found herself surrounded by chaos and darkness.

The May 12 earthquake, which killed more than 40,000 people, was one of the worst in decades, devastating the Sichuan province. Tens of thousands of people are still missing.

Seven months earlier, Helmuth traveled to Chengdu, the province's capital of more than 10 million people, to home-school family friends. Little did Helmuth know she would be 60 miles southeast of the earthquake's epicenter in Wenchuan County.

After finishing grocery shopping around 2:30 p.m., Helmuth was standing on an escalator when she heard rumbling and screaming. Helmuth turned around to see a crowd surge toward her and the lights go out.

Helmuth followed sunlight from the outside street to an exit, which opened to a chaotic scene of frightened people and rattling skyscrapers.

"It was people everywhere trying to get out the door," she said. "I was expecting to see the ceiling fall in."

Hard To Leave
After the earthquake, Helmuth said she and other residents felt continuous tremors and decided to sleep in a nearby soccer field.

They were afraid the buildings, cracked and fractured from the strong jolts, could collapse, she said.

At about 5 a.m., a second tremor hit, shaking the ground and causing panic, Helmuth said. To add to the misery, it began to rain, she said.

Although she went back to her apartment in Chengdu, tremors continued to shake the area, putting everyone on edge, she added.

"The Chinese people would run out into the street whenever tremors shook a building," she said.

Although there have been heroic stories of rescue and survival, fear of fresh tremors continue to paralyze the country, according to published reports.

About 5 million people lost their homes in the earthquake, exacerbated by a series of torrential rainstorms and cold air moving through the area during the past week, according to published reports.

Although Helmuth had planned to arrive home Thursday, she was delayed because officials at the airport were expecting military troops to arrive for relief purposes, she said.

She made it home safely the following day.

For Helmuth and her family, the experience and her survival strengthened their religious conviction and belief in the Mennonite faith, they said. Even so, they feel for the thousands of people in China that lost loved ones and are now suffering, said Helmuth's mother Sheila, 53.

"You're heart just goes out to these families rebuilding communities," Sheila Helmuth said. "And how does the rest of the world help?"

Michael Wu, president of James Madison University's Chinese Student Association, said he's collecting money to give to earthquake victims.

"We've gathered about $50 in the past two days," Wu said.

Ripple Effect
The earthquake also sent shock waves through Eastern Mennonite University's community.

Sixteen students, a faculty member and a staff person were scheduled to travel from Beijing to Chengdu on May 15 for a three-week trip, said Beth Aracena, director of school's Cross-cultural Programs.

The group was planning on staying at Chengdu University of Technology until June 4 before heading home, she said. The group, however, is now traveling in the region north of Beijing, and plans to visit Xi'an, the capital of the Shaanxi province.

EMU's Cross-Cultural Programs sends students to four to six locations every summer, she added.

"We're always aware of any risk involved in educational enterprise," Aracena said.

By Hannah Northey of the Daily News Record

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By Hannah Northey of the Daily News Record

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