Judy Ling Wong was fulfilling a lifelong dream to cuddle a panda when the world exploded around her.

She was one of a group of 19 British tourists visiting the Wolong Panda Reserve, in Wenchuan county, where researchers are breeding the endangered animal in a narrow valley in the hills of China’s southwestern Sichuan province.

She had paid 2,000 yuan (£142) to have her photograph taken holding one of the babies at the reserve’s nursery. “I never got the second picture,” she said. Suddenly the ground shook and the group saw huge boulders falling down the slopes. At first the tourists did not understand what was happening.

With rocks sliding down the hill they thought they were seeing a landslide. Then they realized it was an earthquake — but it would be three days before they learnt that they had survived the deadliest tremor to strike China in 32 years.

Ms Wong was gripped with fear and shock. Then she took to her heels and ran. She and her companions raced over the rippling earth to try to reach the entrance to the reserve.

All around them the earth seemed to spin. She remembered the roar of thousands of tonnes of rock tumbling down. “The rocks were coming in all directions. They were flying over our heads.”

It seemed as if a huge wind was swirling through the reserve, whipping up dust, grit and shards of rock. Leaves flew through the air as dozens of trees crashed to the ground. “We were covered in dust and leaves. There was grit in our mouths. We didn’t know where to run because there were rocks everywhere.”

It felt as if the earthquake lasted three or four minutes, she said. Finally the earth stopped moving — at least for a time. The group was stunned. “We looked at each other and tried to comfort each other even though we didn’t know the others very well.

“It was a miracle that none of us was hurt. The rocks flew right over our heads. And none of had even a scratch.”

Maureen Baker, from Romford, Essex, was washing her hands in the bathroom at the reserve when the quake hit. She was convinced she was going to die. “All the floor was moving up and my husband was running towards me, panic-stricken. Rocks were falling, then we looked up and the mountain just seemed to explode.

“There were boulders coming down, the trees were getting chopped down the mountainside and we just ran into a panda bear enclosure. My husband shielded me and it all just came over the top of us. We thought we were going to be buried alive.”

As the dust began to settle Ms Wong — who was appointed OBE and is director of the Black Environment Network, an environmental and sustainable development group — scanned the hillsides, looking for trees left standing where fewer rocks had fallen. At the foot of those slopes could be the safest place to wait in case of more shocks.

Explore Asia News

• China News

Times Recommends

• Riots as Zimbabwe turns off water supply
• Tourists told to stay away amid Venice floods
• Protest is no picnic for Carrefour customers