12-year-old China quake survivor loses leg

"I was so scared," said the willowy 12-year-old, who tried to be cheerful in her hospital bed Saturday though her parents were still missing after Monday's earthquake.

Siyu is among the millions of survivors scarred by China's deadliest earthquake in three decades. The monster 7.9 tremor was so strong that it could felt thousands of miles away.

The fear gradually faded in Beijing and other cities, but the nightmare was just starting for Siyu, who came from one of the worst hit towns.

Siyu, who likes math but wants to be a fashion consultant when she grows up, recalled how a class of first graders was buried in her collapsed school and waited for rescue in Yingxiu, a town in Wenchuan county, the quake's epicenter.

"One little boy in the first grade was really brave. His name was Zhou Yuyan," she said. "When he and his friends were trapped, before they were rescued, he sang a song to comfort them. He sang 'Two Tigers'" -a popular children's tune.

State-run media reported only 100 out of 447 students and teachers survived at the school.

The quake and the landslides it triggered knocked out mountain roads and phone service to Yingxiu, cutting off the town. Heavy rains hampered helicopter flights. Siyu waited two days to be flown to the West China Hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where most of the serious cases were taken.

The flight to Chengdu was Siyu's first ride in an aircraft, but it left her with no special impression. "I didn't feel like I was flying," she said. "I was in so much pain."

Siyu -whose name translates as "thoughtful rain" -underwent surgery Wednesday to complete the amputation of her leg.