Earthquake

China experienced a 7.9 magnitude earthquake Monday afternoon (11:28 pm Sunday, PDT), centered in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Chengdu is about 600 miles southwest of Luoyang, where Leah is.

The news reports that the earthquake was felt as far away as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

We've heard from both our agency and from the New Day coordinator in Luoyang that Leah is fine.


Here's Emily's email from AGCI:

Hello families,

Okay, a last ditch effort to reach Beijing before leaving the office was a success! Benjamin shared that the building where our office is swayed and that they felt in way up in Beijing. So far the destruction is centered around the epicenter with no damage outside of Sichuan Province. Benjamin assured me that the children are all safe in the other provinces.

Since we have one family in Chengdu right now we are sending the coordinator to the orphanage to check on the 5 kids that are matched with our families. I am hoping to have an update for you tomorrow. I will be in touch with our Chengdu families tomorrow by phone and the rest of you by email.

God is with you and your children!
Emily

Blessings,
Emily House, MA
China/Vietnam Program Director



Here's Mike's email from Luoyang:

Mark -

Everything is ok here, we felt some very minor tremors (level 1 or less)from the earthquake, the epicenter was more than 600 miles from Luoyang. As of now there are no reports of damage or casualties here in Henan.

Thanks for the concern and hope everything goes well with the upcoming travel.

Have a great day,

Mike



AGCI did have one family in Chengdu, and they are fine. Here's their report:

Hello Everyone,

We are ok and safe! We were at the Civil Affairs office and had just met Elijah when we felt the earthquake. At first no one knew what it was. When the Civil Affairs Officer figured it out, we all ran outside into the middle of the street. It lasted for a couple of minutes. It was definitely a bonding experience. I just grabbed Elijah and ran. He was screaming and crying, but eventually calmed down. The traffic was horrible while we drove back to the hotel. People were everywhere. No one was really panicking, but people were walking. When we got back to the hotel, we had to sit in the lobby for about 21/2 hours. Elijah fell asleep in my arms.

I know the day was a traumatic, but he is incredible. Eventually opened the elevators and we went up to our room. Elijah has done amazingly well today. He has been giggling and laughing. When we got on the elevator, he got a little scared and grabbed Scott's neck. It has been incredible. God is so good!

Please continue to pray for this area. We are just starting to find out what happened and how big the earthquake was. It was not as strong here as it was west. As far as I know, no one was hurt in Chengdu. Thank you for your prayers. Elijah is very active and likes to stay up late.

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Kari, Scott and Elijah