While her family is safe from the earthquake that rocked China on Monday, the director of the Bangor Chinese School said she still is trying to get in touch with friends and former classmates who lived closer to central China.

“When I saw a picture of the four newborns, I couldn’t believe [it],” Jing Zhang said Wednesday referring to an Associated Press photo of four babies being moved at a hospital in Nanchong, China, after the earthquake.

Although most of Zhang’s family is in northeast China, friends in the Beijing area whom she has been able to reach by phone said they felt the quake.

“Almost everything was shaking at that moment,” Zhang said. “It is really crazy.”

Zhang and her husband came to Bangor from China in the late 1990s and started the Bangor Chinese School in 2005.

To assist in relief efforts, Zhang is setting up an account to accept donations for those in the area of Sichuan province where more than 12,000 people have died as a result of the earthquake.

“We’re going to try to do the best we can do,” Zhang said.

Zhang questioned why, with the advanced technology available, there was no warning that such a strong earthquake was on the way.

“Nothing [was] done to prepare,” she said. “I’m still wondering why.”

Not only will the disaster likely affect the country’s economy as other media reports have stated, but China also is preparing for the Olympic Games, which are slated to begin Aug. 8.

Monday’s earthquake put a damper on some of the excitement surrounding the games, but Zhang said there would be little if anything relating to the Olympics happening in the region of the country that was hardest hit by the quake.

To make a donation to assist earthquake victims in China contact Jing Zhang at 990-0710 or e-mail zhangjing2000@yahoo.com.

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