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"It began with my classroom projector swaying, almost imperceptibly, and then progressed into a rolling tremor I felt running up my legs," writes KMM on his blog, Barking at the Sun (www.barkingatthesun.com).

At first, the students in his Chengdu classroom reacted to the strange sensation with feelings of incredulity, blaming the sudden tremors on local construction - not even realizing an earthquake as a possibility.

Soon they realized how possible it was and with that began to run as fast as possible, KMM writes.

KMM quickly evacuated his students down a nearby stairwell where flecks of plaster flew off of the cracking stairwell walls, descending on to the students and increasing the terror of the situation.

Crowds flooded through the front door, but much to KMM's surprise, everyone remained calm.

"I was actually amazed at how well people handled themselves - we all rushed out the front doors, but it was hardly a stampede," he writes.

Once outside, they sat together talking nervously about what transpired before being informed by a voice over the university's loud speakers. The information was limited, but helped quell some fears.

On his way back home, KMM saw very little damage to structures, other than a slight crack in one of the bridges and some collapsed roofs on old houses.

The streets were flooded with those reluctant to return indoors.

"The entire population of Chengdu - 11 million people - were all out on the street," KMM writes.

Guanghan

Closer to the earthquake's epicenter, SXD, a netizen of an online forum The Beijinger (www.thebeijinger.com), was waiting for his classes to begin when the disaster struck.

After mistaking the initial blow for a nearby plane crash or explosion, SXD and his students began evacuating the Civil Aviation University, which is 40 km north of Chengdu in Guanghan.

"I've been in a tornado and felt the helplessness when pitted against Mother Nature. But, you can hide from a tornado down in a basement," writes SXD.

As he and a group of students fled down the stairs, SXD recalls the pit of his stomach feeling hollow, as though he was sitting in an airplane that had just dipped during take-off.

Bits of broken cement and glass were flying everywhere, and there was a deep rumble bellowing through the building.

Fortunately, the students only suffered minor cuts from shards of broken glass. The emergency doors had been chained, so they were forced to kick out a window to escape.

"All in all, we were very, very lucky," writes SXD. But, quake damage to the buildings in the area was extensive. SXD describes it as "complete destruction".

Beijing

Perched in his office on the 19th floor of the Jianwai SOHO building in downtown Beijing, blogger Stephen of China Law Practice Blog (www.chinalawpracticeblog.com), had just sat down at his desk preparing to post a blog, when he began feeling strangely dizzy.

When the picture frames on his office wall began swaying, Stephen realized he was feeling dizzy because his entire office was rocking back and forth. Hailing from California, a place rich with seismic activity, Stephen immediately recognized the earthquake's conditions.

Calmly, he locked his door and began the 19-floor hike downstairs.

Once on the ground, the effects of the earthquake were hardly noticeable.

"What I found most strange was that some construction workers remained on the cranes and continued working," Stephen writes.

(China Daily 05/26/2008 page6)