Survivors turn to religion for solace, sustenance and shelter

Muslim cleric Sha Fuquan has the answer when his followers ask him why an earthquake struck Sichuan province , killing 16 members of the Hui ethnic group in Dujiangyan city where his mosque is located.

'From a religious point of view, many people have done wrong. Allah will remind you. You can only accept it and know how to change,' he said.

From Islam to Catholicism to Buddhism, survivors of the earthquake are turning to their religion for solace. Mosques, churches and temples in the disaster zone have been damaged but worshippers still come.

The call to afternoon prayer at the mosque attracted around 20 people on a recent day. But the complex has become more than a place of worship. It offers shelter to some of the 600 to 700 Muslim Hui people remaining in the city.

The mosque also serves as a distribution point, tapping into a network of Muslims across the mainland who donated food complying with strict dietary laws. Besides milk and water, the local government was not able to provide halal food.

'Muslims from everywhere helped us to fight the earthquake,' said one woman, as she showed a storehouse filled with noodles and canned beef sent from Muslims in Xinjiang region and Henan province .