:(

I did end up in front of the TV with my parents for awhile tonight. I admit that the earthquake hadn't really affected me until I saw its consequences for myself.

The most severely affected buildings were all schools. Tiny limp bodies were being pulled from the debris and laid on the ground for parents to identify. The surviving kids were covered in dust and blood, with their limbs broken or completely crushed.

There was a live feed at a crumbled hospital building where an elderly man was found to be firmly stuck beneath tons of concrete, with only his head and right arm visible. He was still able to talk and move the arm, but it was hard to tell whether the rest of his body was salvageable. In any case, he was so tightly crushed that the rescuers didn't know how to extract him without ripping him in half or causing more slabs of building material to fall onto him. The man was trapped for more than two days before a structural architect (or something) was summoned and directed the removal of crap from above.

Eventually they managed to free him. It turned out that he was a 67-year-old retired teacher from a primary school. When he was found by the rescue team he was clutching onto his wife, who was deeper inside the debris and had already died. As the man was pulled out he was barely alive, yet he didn't want to let her go. I think my heart broke right there and then.