The magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit just after midday May 12. By May 13, government officials reported more than 12,000 people had been killed in the quake, but the death toll was expected to rise. Officials said in one city alone more than 19,000 people were buried in the rubble.

Fr. Simon Li Zhigang, administrator of the Chengdu diocese, told UCA News May 13 that he could not reach by phone the priests serving in Wenchuan and Beichuan. About 100 Catholics live in Wenchuan and several hundred more in Beichuan, he said.

In the Nanchong diocese, about 200 km from the epicentre, Sr. Wang Yan told UCA News the activities room added to their church building shook for seven minutes and almost everything fell to the floor.

"I thought it was the end of the world," she recalled.

The night after the quake, dozens of laypeople stayed inside a wooden church in Nanchong because they feared sleeping in their damaged brick houses, she said.

In the neighbouring Chongqing diocese, Fr. Xie Bangyong told UCA News fissures appeared in some old churches after the quake, but all priests and nuns in the city were safe. Chongqing priests divided into groups to see if parishioners were safe and assess damage to old churches, but it was difficult to contact Catholics in the affected areas, Xie added.

Auxiliary Bishop Paul He Zeqing of Wanxian told UCA News the residence for priests and another for nuns in Liangping became unsafe after the quake and was vacated immediately.

"Other churches, all newly built, are not affected," he said.

He led Catholics in praying for the quake victims during a May 13 morning Mass and urged them to donate to relief efforts.

Jinde Charities, in China's Hebei province, appealed on its web site for prayers and donations for the quake survivors. In an appeal to potential donors, Bishop Peter Feng Xinmao, chairman of the board of Jinde Charities, said as soon as roads were cleared Jinde planned to send a team of 20 nuns to help meet victims' medical needs. The bishop said Fr. Li Zhigang of the Chengdu diocese reported many church buildings were either completely collapsed or seriously damaged. The bishop also said a priest in Dujiangyan reported that 80 per cent of the houses in the city were uninhabitable.

"Now, with great trust and confidence, we'd like to turn to you, our dear and loyal friends, for support and help," the appeal said.

In eastern China, the Shanghai diocese donated 1 million yuan (about $145,000 Canadian) for earthquake relief, the diocese's web site reported. Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai directed all parish priests to pray for victims and survivors during special eucharistic adoration sessions May 18 and donate Mass collections that day to the relief effort.

In northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, Bishop Joseph Wei Jingyi of Qiqihar circulated a prayer he wrote asking God to look after the people who were physically and spiritually wounded by the disaster.

In southern China, the Zhongshan-based Tianrun Service in the Jiangmen diocese used its web site to urge Catholics to donate medical aid, clothes, tents and money that it would send through the government's civil affairs department or charitable organizations.