The tough stone house in Zhouqu protected the family from mudslide

On August 11, Zhouqu County of Gansu Province was hit so hard by mud slide that one cannot recognize that area now. However, what surprised people was a stone house standing alone in the aftermath. That stone house had saved an entire family during the mud slide. Sun Xiaoyan, the owner of the house, told the terrifying moment during the mud slide and the story of how the stone house was built.
According to New Express, the mud slide was 500 yards wide and 5 miles long glimmering under the sun. Ms. Sun Xiaoyan said that she was trembling with fear that night.
Sun Xiaoyan, "I told my husband: the water flows differently tonight and there are rocks rolling in the water.” She got up to investigate. Before she could walk down the steps outside the house, she found that there was mud everywhere. She used a flashlight and saw the corn field was gone. She was so shocked by the scene that she was paralyzed and could neither walk nor talk. As a result, she could not tell her husband and daughter to get out of bed and run for their lives.

However, her daughter soon sensed something was wrong and got out of bed. She helped her father and mother get up to the roof on the second floor. The daughter thought, “No matter what, the three of us want to die together.” They spent a horrifying night on the rooftop.

During the 6 hours on the roof, Ms. Sun kept praying: God, please help us, let the mud slide stop, and save us. Finally, the house still stood after the mud slide and they survived the disaster.

According to Sun Xiaoyan, they started to build the house in September, 2008. Originally, they wanted to buy a lot in a different village, but the land was too expensive, so they picked the lot on a small hill close to the mountain. They bought building material with their savings. With the help of their nephew, they slowly built the house.

Ms. Sun added, “At the beginning, we wanted to buy red bricks to build the house. But they are too expensive so we used stones instead and put it on one piece at a time. Except for a small area that was built with red bricks, most of the walls were made with stones.”

Her nephew said that because of all the coincidences, the solid house was built so strong that it could withstand the force of a severe mud slide.