Earthquake

Hey folks,

Just sending out a note to all you concerned and wonderful people:

I am alive and well. Only very minor tremors were felt in my area, even though we are a huge distance away. I personally did not feel it, but people downtown in the city just a few minutes away did and were obviously startled. A piece of my school's roof fell off - but I don't know if that was because of the earthquake or just ridiculously coincidental timing.

It was, however, definitely felt in Shanghai and in Beijing - cities over 1500km away from the quake as well as in a few of the surrounding countries. This is said to be the worst earthquake to hit China in over 3 decades - registering at a 7.9 on the Richter scale - and the death toll has now reached an estimated 1200 people. In the meantime there are thousands of survivors buried under fallen buildings, just waiting to be rescued.

Unfortunately, it's events like these that remind me how fragile a life is and how insanely grateful I ought to be that I'm even alive.

It also reminds me that I have many awesome, kind, caring, and concerned people in my life. So I'd like to thank you all for your emails, messages and phone calls - I am indeed alive and physically far away from the tragedy.