A Nation Grieving.

Today was the single most moving experience of my life.

At 14:28 today, China stopped in its tracks to remember and mourn its dead. This national 3-minute remembrance silence was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Akin to the Last Post played on Remembrance Day in Australia, a cacophony of sirens, whistles, car horns echoed across Beijing, as millions of people stood and reflected upon the national tragedy that has affected the lives and thoughts of billions around the world. Intermingled with this nation-wide remembrance, were the heart-wrenching sobs of those who have lost loved ones and the pervasive feeling of anguish. This is a nation grieving.

One week ago, at the exact same time, I thought a big truck was rumbling past, and thought nothing more of it. Some of the girls in my class asked if the rest of us had felt an earthquake, as they had felt the ground move. Unsure, we left class and found to our horror that a magnitude 7.9 earthquake had hit the China in the Sichuan Province. One week later, the official toll is over 32 000 dead, with thousands more still missing, hundreds of thousands injured, and millions affected by the earthquake, having lost friends, family, homes, livelihoods and their sense of security.

Being currently on exchange to Beijing, China, is an experience on its own, but being here while a natural disaster unfurls across the nation is something that cannot be expressed by mere words. The thoughts of a nation, and indeed of many across the world, are with those who have been affected by the earthquake, and with those who are bravely risking their lives and taking an active part to help rescue, assist and comfort those in sichuan.

Words cannot express the atmosphere that is here now. It is so full of emotion and feeling that …

As my friend Xueling said in her blog, and whose family was also affected by the earthquake:

“What can I say to relieve the pain of losing so many lives?”