Related: Earthquake orphans call for help

By 6:30 PM on Friday more than 22,000 people had been confirmed dead in the earthquake-devastated Sichuan Province of southwest China. Monday afternoon's disastrous quake destroyed thousands of houses and families. Three orphans recalled their experiences during the earthquake in an exclusive interview with China.org.cn.

Chen Bing

Chen Bing and Bai Lin, both third-grade, and Liu Yixue, were students from the Beichuan High School. They were in class when the first tremor was sensed. "We all sat there, hoping the shaking would stop quickly," said Bai. "However, it seemed to get stronger. The bricks on the wall behind the blackboard started to fall down and the glass windows began to break. Some of my classmates were hit by the falling bricks."

"At that moment, we still didn't realize how strong the earthquake was going to be. After the first wave of tremors, we tried to jump out of the window.

"Our classroom was on the third floor. But there was no time to lose. With the collapsing of the building we landed safely. "

Chen was among the jumpers. He then helped the fellow girls and teachers to escape.

Liu Yixue

Liu, 16, was having class in the multi-media classroom. "The teacher was displaying pictures on the computer when the packages of snacks on the table started shaking. It wasn't unusual for us as we lived in a quake-prone area," recalled Liu.

"Some students chose to rush out when the shaking continued. The teacher told us to stay calm, but many of the students fainted and had to be revived. Some were buried under broken desks.

"Trapped inside a narrow space, we tried to call for help and checked the injured in the dim light of mobile phones. The girls were so scared that they wept and cried out for their parents. The boys tried to be stronger and asked everyone to keep together.

Bai Lin

"We called out every student's name to confirm they were safe, but sometimes there were no replies. At the time I believed they were asleep, because we all felt dizzy after the chaos. We fought to remain clear-headed and encouraged each other by holding hands until all the hands were wet. We believed we would be rescued.

"After about an hour, a light appeared in the classroom. These were third-grade students who had been taking PE class in the playground. They were digging with their bare hands and we took turns to climb out, bypassing the burning electric wires of the broken computers."

(China.org.cn by Huang Shan May 16, 2008)