Xiao Xuemei received a phone call at 2 a.m. Monday from a friend in her home city of Chengdu telling her that a massive earthquake had struck Sichuan province, killing thousands.
Xiao, a waitress at a Sichuanese restaurant in Alhambra, panicked and immediately started calling family members there on their cellphones to make sure they were safe.
"I couldn't get through," said Xiao, 50. "There was no connection."
Luckily, Xiao received another call from Chengdu a few hours later. This time it was from her older sister, who said she had to evacuate her sixth-floor apartment and camp out on the street, but all their family members were fine.
"We are very nervous. We are very worried because we are so far away," said Xiao, who left China three years ago for Alhambra. "All my family is in Chengdu."
Such concerns were echoed across the San Gabriel Valley, home to one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities in the United States, as news of the magnitude 7.9 temblor dominated conversations and television sets. There was great concern about the death toll, which officials estimated to be at least 10,000.
At Xiao's workplace, Szechwan Best Restaurant on Main Street, flat-screen televisions were tuned to Chinese news stations showing earthquake coverage.
Xiao and her co-workers said they were trying to move the earthquake to the back of their minds so they could focus on the lunch rush -- but it was hard. Xiao said she planned to keep calling China to get updates from her family.
Sichuan immigrant Annie Wang didn't hear about the disaster until co-workers at her foot massage spa in San Gabriel switched on Chinese television and said, "Annie, your Sichuan had an earthquake."
Although all her immediate family has moved to the United States, Wang said, her stomach sank as she thought about friends and relatives.
"I'm not very positive about the location," said Wang, 44, as she rubbed the feet of a client. "I think it's in the poorer areas. If so, my cousin goes out there often for work. I'm worried about my friends and classmates. I can only call them once I'm off work."
Wang, who has been in the U.S. for a year, says Los Angeles is home to many Sichuan immigrants. It's a community that mostly reflects the working-class character of the province. Many came to Southern California to work in restaurants and, like Wang, found jobs in the dozens of foot massage parlors that dot the San Gabriel Valley.
