A girl is evacuated after a major earthquake struck Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on May 12, 2008.

The quake hit about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Chengdu at about 2:30 p.m., when classes and office buildings were full.

Though telephones were out in Chengdu, Israeli student Ronen Medzini sent a text message to the Associated Press describing water and power outages.

"Traffic jams, no running water, power [outages], everyone sitting in streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he wrote.

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