The most horrifying day of my life

May 12, Monday, Rainy

Today is the 6th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. Six years ago today, I went through the most terrifying day of all my life.

When the ground started to shake, I was in Mianyang. As you know Mianyang was one of the hardest-hit that earthquake.

On that day, I went to Mianyang to apply for second-generation ID. For various reasons, I was told by Mianyang Police that my application couldn't be processed until three o’clock in the afternoon. With no bus available to take me home in the late afternoon after three o’clock, I could not but checked in to stay overnight in a nearby hotel. It was an old six-story building, and my room was on the fourth floor. By 2:15p.m., when I was about to take a nap, the whole room started to shake. After a while, looking through the window, I saw that many houses were collapsing, as if builders were taking their bulldozers to the houses, “Earthquake”, I yelled to myself and rushed downstairs barefooted over several pieces of broken glass and made it to safety. I was lucky that the hotel building didn't collapse, though severely damaged beyond repair.
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After the earthquake, for several days, most of people feared to go back to their homes and camped in open fields. I was unable to go home until May 15th, after the bus system had resumed its schedules. During those three days, I camped with the local police and their families.
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Six years have passed; I still have vivid memories about the kind treatment by the local police during these three horrifying days in Mianyang.