Ten kinesiology students and a faculty member from the University College of the Fraser Valley were caught in the earthquake that has left nearly 10,000 people dead in China.
Greg Anderson, head of kinesiology and physical education at the school, said the students are safe but shaken up.
“Everybody’s fine other than they’ve just lived through a very big ordeal,” he said.
“They ran out of the building and stayed in a big stadium in a field so there were no buildings around them.
“There’s about 26,000 students on campus and they’re the only English-speaking ones, which made it quite difficult for them.”
The students are part of a study tour at the Sichuan University in Chengdu, around 100 kilometres from the epicentre.
“They were supposed to be there 10 weeks and they are in week one. They were actually in their very first structured class when this happened.”
Anderson said he doesn’t know if the students will be staying in China or coming home.
“They now have power back and they’re at international education (residences). We need to know whether … the university will remain open. We have no idea what’s going to happen.”
