In the past week, nothing more than the earthquake back home in China has grasped my heart more.

On Monday before I went to class I saw the “breaking news” on TV about the earthquake. It didn’t sound good but I had to leave for my class. When I got back and sat down for more of it, I was shocked! The casualties and ruins in Sichuan were devastating.

And it got worse as more information came along from more remote places. My heart sank deeper and deeper every time I watched the news. There was at one point my flatmate had to turn the TV off because we were crying so hard of what we saw and heard.

Although we’re in London, away from China, we tried what we can do to help. The Chinese Students Union at my university called for donations very soon, and the next thing we knew other Student Unions joined us to help fund raising on the campus. What’s more, my flatmate said she saw fund-raising points in the China Town in Leicester Square in central London. Not just Chinese/BBCs(British-born Chinese), but also local Brits and foreign tourists visiting the China Town were contributin. I was really touched.

Natural disasters like the earthquake (and the cyclone in Burma) may take away people’s lives, loved ones, and homes, but they shouldn’t take the will and hope to live, to recover, to have their lives back away from those who survive. It’s important that we all stand by them at this hard time, and I feel relieved and warm knowing that we are.