A couple from Littleton who went to China to study to become missionaries are helping with rescue efforts after the nation’s devastating earthquake.
Chris and Wendy Tuey and their two children left for China on May 6. Their first stop was in Chendu, said Krista Van Lewen, a friend from Colorado.
Van Lewen kept in touch with the Tueys via e-mail, and she said the family is doing OK. They have changed their travel plans to help in the humanitarian efforts there.
In an e-mail Thursday from Wendy Tuey to The Denver Post, she said she and her husband were busy coordinating with organizations and helping get supplies out to the people who need them.
The Tueys are also helping people staying near Chendu who are aiding in rescue efforts.
Chris Tuey, a former physician’s assistant, left early Thursday with one of the first medical teams for Beichuan, near the epicenter of the quake, his wife said.
“He called me briefly this morning to let me know that they made it (to) Beichuan,” Wendy said in the e-mail.
The team is working in 36-hour shifts, she said.
“Chris and I both felt overwhelmingly that God wanted us here to help in any way possible,” Wendy Tuey wrote on a website. “It is amazing how God has us right here at the right time to help in a desperate time of need for the Chinese people.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
Denver’s earthquake risk
•The most economically damaging earthquake in Colorado’s history was on Aug. 9, 1967. The magnitude-5.3 earthquake was centered near Commerce City and is thought to have been induced by the deep injection of liquid waste into a borehole at Rocky Mountain Arsenal.
•Since March 1971, 15 earthquakes of approximate magnitude 2.5 or larger have occurred in the northern Denver suburbs. At least two published articles propose that a magnitude-6.0 earthquake is possible on the Front Range.
•With such a short historical record (about 150 years), scientists are unable to accurately predict when the next major earthquake will occur in Colorado, only that one will occur.
Source: Colorado Geological Survey (geosurvey.state.co.us)
