'I saw the dreadful terror in the eyes of those students'

It was, 2:28 pm, and most students were sitting in their classrooms waiting for their lessons to begin. Then, on this gray May 12 day, the earthquake struck.

Ma Liangxuan was having the afternoon off and was in her teachers' apartment on campus. The refrigerator in her apartment began "walking around", she says, and, half aware of what was happening, she raced downstairs.

"The walls were crumbling and chunks of plasters were tumbling down," says Ma, who was five months pregnant. "I was sure the apartment building was about to collapse."