Rescue teams are searching through the rubble for survivors days after a massive earthquake in China.

A Minnesota native impacted by the quake spoke to KSFY's Kent Erdahl.

Rachel Westhed Stenbeck, grew up in Fertile, Minnesota, located in the northeastern part of the state. Now she is teaching english at a college in Cheng Xian, China through as a missionary. The town is only about 220 miles north of the earthquake epicenter.

The quake killed nearly 15,000 people across China, at least 150 of those deaths occurred in the province where Rachel is living. She was on the fourth floor of a building when the earthquake struck and describes the evacuation.

"It was like running on a bowl of Jello that you were shaking," Rachel says. "I can't describe it any better, but it felt like running on Jello. I was shaking violently back and forth. I thought that the building was collapsing. That's still my only thought, that the building was collapsing."

Rachel did escape unharmed and, despite significant damage, all of the buildings on campus are still standing. Rachel says the school could resume classes in a few days.