Lois Sarah Dolman, aged 26, is now in Xian in Shaanxi province as part of her work through the Chinese Church Support Ministries charity.

She told how she and her husband, Aaron, had just got out of a swimming pool on Monday.

"I was happily having a shower when I started to feel really dizzy and ill, I couldn't fix my eyes on anything and thought I was going to faint.

"When I realised everyone else was having the same feeling, everyone started to panic. We thought there was a structural problem with the building.

"Aaron was shouting at me to get out but I had to put some clothes on before I could go outside. When we got outside we realised it had been an earthquake.

"We got as far away from all the buildings as we could and then had to cycle home 3km. We cycled through streets filled with scared people, evacuated from their buildings.

"When we got back to the area we live in we went to find our friends, who all live in high-rise flats.

"They had a much worse experience because their buildings were swaying from side to side and they all had seven to 15 flights of stairs to run down before reaching safety outside.

"Since the quake, many people have been to afraid to return home and camped out in local parks.

"We have been told 15 people have died in Xi'an and many people here are still scared as rumours continue to fly around about more aftershocks and unsafe buildings."

Lois, a physiotherapist, spent three weeks in China in 2001 and was horrified by the plight of orphans, many of whom were tied to chairs or neglected.

Now she and her husband are learning Chinese with a view to staying in the country indefinitely, working full-time in orphanages.