T. Ross

The Rosses in China

BOISE - A Caldwell couple is living in a temporary home in China after theirs was damaged by this week's earthquake.      

Thad Ross and his wife Michelle are in the midst of this destruction.

They are with the Peace Corps and have lived in China for two years.

Before the earthquake they were teaching at a rural college in China but now things are on hold while the country rebuilds.

When the earthquake struck, Ross was on a hike with friends.

"I was on a mountain top near an old temple and it was a frightening experience, it almost came down on top of us," he said.

On his blog, Thad further describes the moment saying "it looked like the temples were being grabbed by an invisible hand and twisted."

At that moment Thad tried to contact his wife, Michelle, who was back at the college where they lived and worked.

"The phone connections were interrupted so I would get calls from Michelle and they wouldn't last long."

When he returned to campus- Thad found Michelle with students and faculty gathered in a soccer field.

"It was a little bit chaotic," he said.

As for their home- Ross says the quake basically broke their apartment building in half.

"Its damaged pretty badly. They are trying to decide if they can put it back together or not."

The earthquake destroyed many roads across china but Ross says rescuers are still finding ways to reach rural towns.

"Even in our small town they were airdropping things medicine and food and things like that."

He says the earthquake has taught him even more about the people in China.

"It really underscored for me how caring the Chinese people are.  Our students came forward and were the first to ask us if we were okay,"

Thad and Michelle are currently living at another university about 200 miles away from their campus while they wait to hear back about the condition of their apartment building.

And in just a couple of months, the couple is headed back to Idaho.