Our caravan carried supplies for building a special tent brought by an aid organization called I Bought a Shelter. The whole tent is made from flexible strips of bamboo, plastic tarping, and hundreds of plastic zip ties. Everyone was willing to help, but we found that more than fifteen hands was simply more trouble than [...]

Liu Tingfeng leaning on her makeshift crutch
Liu Tingfeng supports herself by leaning on the wooden handle of a twisted spade. One of her ankles, tightly bound by an ace bandage, twists awkwardly inwards. A pink plastic sandal dangles from the useless foot. When our aid truck arrives in the tiny village Bandao Cun, [...]

Wang Yuzhen
Standing in the rubble of her house in Bandao Cun, Wangyuzhen watches me speak with her neighbors. When I turn to leave, she calls out. Would I like to see her house? Of course, I say. She is a tiny woman with a beautiful smile. She too was in the fields when the earthquake [...]

Gao Caohui seeks to tell her story
Gao Caohui is 65 years old. She lives in the tiny village of BandaoCun, between Miangzhu and the now utterly destroyed Hanwang. On May 12th at 2:28, she and her daughter were working in the fields together. From their rice paddy, they turned to watch the houses in their [...]