An estimated 160,000 people of Chinese descent live in Hawaii, so there is obvious interest in what is happening there.

A group of journalists studying as fellows at East-West Center in Manoa was in Beijing when the earthquake hit. Although Beijing is a safe distance, a little more than 900 miles from the quake's epicenter, the fellows are following developments in Sichuan with great interest.

"This is a major tragedy no doubt," said Chris McNally, an East-West Center China specialist who accompanied the fellows to Beijing.

"You can look at the front page of the Chinese newspaper and it's spread about the front page. For example the English language speaking China daily the headline is, 'The Day the Earth moved,'" McNally said.

McNally's expertise in China is not the only reason he is interested in the earthquake. His wife Pauline Bai is from Chengdu, a large city about 60 miles from the epicenter.

"There have been 45 deaths reported from the city of Chengdu. Most of them because of housing collapses. Most of these houses are old houses. We have heard about a school collapse. That is in a city that is Northwest of Chengdu. And there some 900 children have been buried under the rubble of their own school," McNally said by phone from Beijing.

McNally contacted his relatives. They were not hurt in the quake, but their apartment is damaged.

The fellows from the East-West Center were scheduled to travel to Chongqing Wednesday and then onto Chengdu, but their trip may have to be cancelled.

"We don't know yet whether they are going to be in a position to have a delegation like ours come, both in terms of whether the city, the infrastructure of the city, is there structural damage? Are the buildings safe? Are they going to be allowing any kind of tourists or groups in?" said Ann Hartman, Fellowship Coordinator at the East-West Center.

Kayla Rosenfeld, news director at Hawaii Public Radio, is one of journalists / fellows on the China trip. She hopes the group is allowed to continue its trip as scheduled.

"I certainly want to go. I mean we have a strong Chinese community in Hawaii and as a news director I feel it's my obligation to keep them informed as to what's going on," Rosenfeld told KGMB9 by phone from Beijing.

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