Finally!

My mother got a call from Tim around 9:30pm, letting her know they were OK.  Their power had finally come back on only moments before.  I called him on his Skype number and was finally able to get through.  Hallelujah!  They have running water again, but it's not very safe for drinking, and they're running out of bottled water.  All the stores are sold out right now. Their gas hasn't been turned back on yet, so they're not able to cook, but they can heat some things in the microwave, and otherwise eat cereal.  They're on the second floor of their building, but another family living on the seventh floor said they were being tossed around like rag dolls while trying to rush down the stairs, which was pretty terrifying. 

He told me it was quite a ride, though in Mianyang, it was "only" a 6.0.  Even for earthquake-seasoned Californians like us, that's still a jolt.  Poor Ayrian isn't used to earthquakes, being from Montana, so it was really a scary experience for her.  Their apartment building is fine, and so are all the newer buildings in the city, but the older ones that weren't reinforced just crumbled.  Tim said he could see dust clouds billowing outside his window as a building collapsed.  Though most of the city residents decided to sleep outside in the street, Tim felt being inside their reinforced building was safer.  Almost all of the buildings are high-rises, and if they start to topple over you don't want to be in their path.  Even so, they had to open the windows for cooler air, and were plagued by mosquitos.  They had about 40 aftershocks during the night, too, which made it difficult to sleep. 

One of Tim's buddies went to a store to try and stock up on more food, but the line was so long he knew it would take him at least two hours to get his turn at the register.  Suddenly there was an aftershock and everyone ran outside, but he stayed behind and walked up to the empty counter.  When the cashiers returned, he just paid for the items and left.  

They're doing OK for now, so we're very relieved.  Their main concern right now is buying food and bottled water, since many of the shops have spiked their prices already.  They also got hit with an unexpected $500 charge for a new visa, because the Chinese government is cracking down on visas prior to the Olympics, and would only give them visas for one month instead of the usual 6 months. 

They have a website here: http://www.stonehousehold.org/index.html  It hasn't been updated since last year, but there's still good info on there, and a link for donating through PayPal, if you're interested.