Mother loses son, then daughter in both Sichuan earthquakes

Life has not been fair for 50-year-old Lu Jingkang, who lost her teenage daughter in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Yaan on Saturday. Barely five years earlier, she lost her son in the other catastrophic Sichuan earthquake, in Wenchuan.

“God has been too harsh on me, way too harsh,” Lu told the Yangtse Evening Post on Sunday.

The two deadly earthquakes that struck Sichuan, just 85 kilometres apart from each other, have now left Lu childless.

On Saturday morning, the moment Lu felt the ground shake, she immediately rushed to her daughter and daughter-in-law's building, shouting their names. Her daughter-in-law jumped from the second floor of the building, but her daughter did not answer. 

Seconds later, the entire building collapsed. That was when Lu knew she had lost her daughter.

Two rescue paramilitary soldiers later recovered her daughter’s body from the ruins. “She did not bleed, just like her brother,” Lu said. Her daughter-in-law fractured bones at her waist and remained in critical condition.