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“Help! Help,” came faint cries from seven schoolchildren buried under their three-story elementary school.
An earthquake had just hit their mountain village in Sichuan province, China. It was the afternoon of May 12, 2008.
After 70 hours, a team led three rescue dogs into the wreckage. Miraculously, the rescuers found all seven children and pulled them from the ruins. One survivor was 12-year-old ballet student Li Yue, who had been unable to move that whole time. But Li Yue was strong, and she never lost hope. She lived, but her leg had to be amputated.
The Sichuan earthquake was one of the most devastating quakes in history. Over 80,000 people died or went missing, and over 400,000 people were hurt. At least 10 million people became homeless. Thousands of schoolchildren died because the schools they attended were poorly built.
