It is something we can't really imagine in the UK, being fortunate enough not to experience such disasters.

But the High Peak's Hayley Walters has seen first hand the devastation that can be caused in just a few seconds.

Hayley Walters has been living and working in the country since 2006 and was among a team of people who volunteered to help the local Red Cross with their rescue and recovery operation in the days that followed the quake.

Along with her colleagues and other volunteers at the centre where she works with endangered Asiatic black bears (moon bears), Hayley helped to deliver supplies and look after people, and animals, injured by the deadliest earthquake to hit China in decades.

The team were located in Yingxiu Town in Wenchuan County, about 150kms north of Chengdu. On arrival, they discovered that people were trapped in villages on Shanqing Mountain with the major road down to the town being cut off. Two towns with a total population of 20,000 had been totally cut off from all communication in the mountains, and helicopters had tried to drop water and food down to the victims but the parcels had been blown off course. Some survivors of the earthquake were managing to walk down but no transport could get through.

The team were driven up into the mountain where they saw whole villages cut off, houses in rural areas totally flattened and cracked and broken roads. They began the long hike up the mountain but were later sent back down after another tremor was felt. Hayley and three other members of the team then returned to the mountain base and helped bathe survivors cut and cracked feet and hands while the rest of the team helped offload supplies.

Now waiting for more instructions from the Red Cross, the team have set up a fund for the charity as well as members of their own staff who have lost family members and houses.

Thankfully none of the bears or staff were injured in the earthquake, but the AAF sanctuary itself in Chengdu was badly damaged. Most of the staff accommodation buildings are unsafe and out of bounds with staff sleeping on concrete floors in emergency shelters and the holding areas for new bears.