” “The Catholics of Sichuan, the province of Central-Southern China which was hit yesterday by a terrible earthquake that caused dozens of thousands of casualties, are trying to count the victims and the damage suffered by their communities, while the Churches of other regions of China are making appeals for prayer and for first aids. News have problems arriving because the telephone lines are down and the roads are broken, but the priests of Sichuan report to the Catholic agency Ucanews that at least one church has been destroyed and a dozen have been damaged. Father Simon Li Zhigang, administrator of the diocese of Chengdu (provincial capital of Sichuan), said he has not yet been able to call his brethrens who live in Wenchuan (the epicentre of the earthquake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale) and Beichuan, who run communities with hundreds of Catholics. Father Simon knows that a lay Catholic who worked in the Church of Mianzhu County was killed under the rubble and another two have been seriously injured. The shock was felt even as far as 240 km from the epicentre, as told by Sister Wang Yan of the diocese of Nanchong: "I thought it was the end of the world". Even there, dozens of Catholics spent the night in the open, out of the church. (continued)” “
