Utahns happy to receive word from loved ones in China

Carole Mikita and Tom Callan reportingMany Utahns were awakened by phone calls in the middle of the night or early this morning from family members living in China near the area where this morning's 7.9 magnitude quake hit. Today, Eyewitness News spoke with several of them.

It has been good news about their families for a lot of those Utahns, but they realize many others still don't know and that aftershocks are still rattling a large area. Each one expressed gratitude for 21st-century communications.

By cell phone and through e-mails, Bill Jiang has been able to communicate with his family. They are safe. But so many buildings have toppled, and one friend told him he can't find his home. "His family, which lives close to this earthquake center, somehow probably, I think, is bad news. They said the house totally disappeared, is gone," Jiang said.

Dr. Kang Zhang and his graduate student, Jessica, received good news. A colleague called at 5 a.m. describing the destruction.

Zhang called his mother, who lives 60 miles from the epicenter in Chendu. "I found her to be alive and well, and also she said my family is fine. However, the entire Chendu people are sleeping out tonight, afraid of the additional aftershocks," he said.

Utahn Hao Zhu says his wife's niece is a student in the province where the quake occurred and has been transferred from her dorm to a makeshift tent to wait out the aftershocks.

There are also Utah parents who received phone calls in the middle of the night from children who are studying in China.

Cambria Sandstrom traveled with a BYU dance study-abroad program. Twenty-one students are taking classes and performing at the Sichuan Music Conservatory.

The first text message her parents received said: "I'm OK. I need you to call me." Then she text messaged: "We're at the hotel spending the night in the lobby. We're safe."

Cambria said the dance studio floor started to shake and almost erupted. Then the walls swayed. The students huddled in a doorway. "Cambria said that the stairways were cracked and crumbling, and even as they went down, pieces would break off. And they made it outside. They did a headcount, and everyone was safely there. Cambria said the Chinese people there were so good to them," her mother, Lisa Sandstrom, said.

BYU sent a statement about the 21 students and two faculty members. They are all in good spirits and have contacted their families. The university is working with the U.S. State Department and will make decisions about whether they will stay or come home on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, Utah's Chinese community is preparing to send money to the victims of the quake.

E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com

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