Baoshenyi is five years old. He survived the earthquake because, without any instruction, he jumped out of the second story window of his school building when the ground began to shake. While I was talking to his parents, he took my hand and led me through piles of rubble then stopped and pointed. "This is my house," he told me.

Lydia Wallace was interning at Danwei when the Sichuan earthquake struck. She is now working for a disaster relief organization in Sichuan and will be publishing stories and photographs about the people she meets. She is also blogging at www.fiferis.com.