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SCMP Reporter

Twelve-year-old Cairen Yongji likes to keep her long hair in a ponytail. Her younger sister, Caiba Yongcuo, 11, preferred hers cropped short. Apart from that, they looked like twins.
Cairen Yongji remembers clearly the day the quake struck and her sister died. She breaks into tears when recalling some of the details.
The two girls were having breakfast when the floor crumbled and the ceiling caved in. The next thing Cairen Yongji saw was her sister lying next to her, blood seeping from the back of her head.  She tried shaking her sister, but  she did not respond. 
Cairen Yongji cried for help and was rescued by a neighbour's son. But her sister was not breathing when she was pulled out of the rubble.
On Monday, when  No3 Wanquan Primary School resumed classes, Cairen Yongji stood alone outside the fourth-graders' tent, staring blankly at the ground.
'My sister always came to school with me,' she said. 'We walked to school and walked back home together. It's a rather long walk.'
Cairen Yongji said she did not remember exactly where in Sichuan they came from but said  her mother, injured in the quake, had been sent back there for treatment. Cairen Yongji injured her back and legs in the quake but said she did not want to go to the doctor.
She is now staying with a neighbour who took her in after the quake. However, their village is up the mountain, above the race course, and they have not been able to obtain a tent.
Sitting on the flattened, barren ground that used to be her home, Cairen Yongji said she and her sister used to do their homework together, and Caiba Yongcuo would help her whenever she had problems. 
Cairen Yongji took out her textbooks, saying that Tibetan was easy but Chinese was her favourite class. When asked what her sister's best subject  had been, she shook her head.
'We never compared our grades,' Cairen Yongji said, 'but we talked about everything else.
'I miss her so much. I feel so sad that I won't see her again.'
At the sight of some monks  coming up the mountain, Cairen Yongji's neighbour asked her to get some instant noodles from them. She quickly wiped  her tears and ran off. 
She had already lost one chance to gather some food aid that morning when volunteers distributed relief goods outside the school gate. 
As quake survivors swarmed the volunteers' trucks, Cairen Yongji and her friends could not compete with the adults also scrabbling for handouts. Some children picked up biscuits that fell on the ground amid the chaos. 
Some survivors made off with several blankets, speeding away on their motorcycles. Cairen Yongji felt lucky she had at least managed to get hold of one.



Day the earthquake struck and her sister died