Love in China quake zone air

YA'AN, Sichuan, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Huang Zhongmin's palm was bruised,fingers bleeding, and nails abraded. But Huang could not stop digging away at the rubble that was his house. His son was under it.

For six hours, Huang kept throwing out bricks that covered his little boy. Huang thought the love of his life may have gone forever but he could not give up.

Huang was praying for a miracle.

He eventually reached his son and the pain went away. The boy remained conscious and only received minor injuries to his left eye.

Huang's son was among those saved in a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked China's Sichuan Province Saturday morning.

When the earthquake woke Lu Caiwen, he shouted "collapse" and cuddled his girlfriend seconds before their house fell down.

"I'll marry no one but this man," said Lu's girlfriend Xiao Qin in a hospital where her boyfriend was being treated. Lu suffered multiple injuries, including a blow to the head. Xiao did not have a scratch.

However, when there is salvation, there will also be sacrifices.

Zou Hanjun, a 37-year-old mother had been protecting her son, until the last minute of her life.

She lay on the lawn of a hospital in Lushan County, the epicenter. Beside Zou's body stood her son, who had been held tightly to his mother's chest when the roof of their home collapsed.

Along the road to the quake-hit region, a soldier placed three cigarettes beside his comrade who lay on the grass, dead. A military truck veered of a cliff Saturday, killing two.

The earthquake has claimed the lives of 186 people, but for many of the survivors they chose to stick together.

In Longmen Township, grocery store owner Zhang Yuxia emptied her shop, giving everything to fellow villagers.

"It's time to help," Zhang said.

Hundreds of houswives carried rice and flour to shelter houses and main streets, cooking meals for those who had their homes torn down in the quake.

"We can't just sit tight and wait for rescue teams. We must help ourselves," 55-year-old Yang Yufen said, while making dumplings with her sister.

Hours after the earthquake struck, a baby girl was born in a garage of a local hospital.

The mother said she was going to name her baby Zhensheng, which in Chinese means "new birth in an earthquake." Enditem (Additional reporting by Hai Mingwei in Lushan County)