“Is she still alive?Where is she?I want to see her at once!”

　　Jiang Dejia, a Junior 2 student in Shifang Yinghua Middle School in Deyang, said this when she was rescued from the rubble(瓦砾)of a school building hit by the May 12 earthquake．

　　“She”is a Jmlior 3 girl from the same school, called Liao Li, who was also buried in the rubble．

　　Jiang and Liao didn’t know each other before the earthquake．But they encouraged each other to keep going during the two scary days．

　　Later Liao was rescued too．

　　“We were on the edge of death but friendship got us through．I’ll never forget it as long as I live．”said Jiang．

　　Hundreds of thousands of students like Jiang and Liao were in the same situation on May 12．On that day, the biggest earthquake in China for more than 30 years hit Wenehuan, Sichuan．Several thousand middle school students and teachers ended up buried．Buildings went down and cities were leveled(夷平)．

　　As from Friday the earthquake has killed about 23, 000 people across the country．The number is very likely to grow．

　　While people in those areas are facing death and disease, they know the whole nation is standing firmly behind them．

　　Only two hours after the quake．Premier Wen Jiabao got on a plane to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province．Premier Wen has been in the worst－hit areas to lead rescue work．

　　Soldiers and policemen were not able to get into Wenchuan at first because of rainy weather and blocked roads．About one day after the quake．the first army group reached the epicenter(震中)on foot．Since then, soldiers have been digging with their fingers to try to find people alive．Helicopters(直升机)have been called in to airdrop food, water and medicine for people in the quake-hit areas．Medical teams have been sent in．People are racing against time to save lives．

　　People outside of Sichuan．including overseas Chinese and people in other countries, are offering money, blood and materials(物资)to help．

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