They walked on foot in the rain to reach the camp. The old man shows us his blisters. When they arrived, the authorities were hard-pressed, they tell us. So they built their shelter themselves. Now one of the men has gone back to their home to see if he can retrieve anything that might be of use.

It has rained heavily in the past week, but today is hot and dry. Listless and uncomfortable in the heat, people lie in their tents listening to a loud tannoy broadcasting radio coverage. There isn't a great deal more for them to do.

Shifang City Communications and Public Relations Director Gao Feng is in charge. He speaks rapidly and articulately about the situation. Now there are over 4,000 people in the camp. More are arriving each day as the rescue squads penetrate further into the worst-hit areas. He doesn't yet know how long people will be obliged to stay there, and he's not sure what provision will be made for longer-term accommodation. Some of them, he knows, will simply make their way back to their homes and start to rebuild.

The administrative service workers appear busy and efficient. At the counseling tent three young teenagers are talking to the staff. They look upset. It turns out that they are not residents, but young people from the city who have volunteered to help. Not all their efforts are appreciated, and they are hurt.

The Shifang Camp Counselors bow their heads in respect.

"Don't think of yourselves", says the counselor. "Remember why you came here. Focus on the work you have to do."

China has declared May 19 to be the first of a series of days of national mourning, the first since the death of Mao. At 2.28 PM, the time when the earthquake struck, everything will come to a stop for one minute’s commemoration.

It will be a time not only to remember those who died in the earthquake itself, but for all its other victims.

For people like brave 16-year old Yang Liu, who lay for sixty hours with her legs trapped in the rubble, the body of a dead classmate beside her. In the end, rescuers had to amputate her legs to free her, but she will live.

We will pull through!

For people like brave Wang Gang, 42, the deputy director of public security at the Wolong Panda Reserve. Seeing a woman who had strayed under the path of a helicopter that has started dropping emergency supplies, he threw himself at her to save her life, and paid for his courage with his own.

For a death toll that will continue to rise in the days to come. Not only the ones who still lie buried in the rubble – surely there cannot be any now left alive – but also for those who will lose their lives trying to bring help or rescue to the stricken. Only yesterday, we heard that over 200 road-builders have been buried in the past few days by mud and landslides as they try to restore and to keep open the roads that bring relief.