Chinese children from China's quake-hit Sichuan Province play at the beach of Vladivostok, Russia, Aug. 4, 2008. (Xinhua/Zheng Yue)
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Ten years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, Andrei Bazirevski, head of All-Russian Children's Center "Ocean," can still clearly recall the warm moments when affected Chinese students recuperated at the center.
"It was a good story about people caring for each other," Bazirevski told Xinhua in a recent interview. "Caring for each other with sincerity can conquer all disasters."
A 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Wenchuan county in China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 87,000 dead or missing and millions homeless.
After the catastrophe, then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited 1,500 Chinese students to recuperate in Russia, 890 of who lived in the "Ocean" center in the Pacific coastal city of Vladivostok.
Bazirevski said Russians were saddened by the deadly earthquake, and it was a pleasure for the center to host the Chinese students.
"Our center arranged therapy and various cultural and recreational activities for them so that they felt like they were at home," he said. "Teachers also invited them to visit their homes and tried to make them happy each day."
On departure, many Chinese children were reluctant to separate with their Russian friends, Bazirevski said. The center published their stories on its magazine and photos of the Chinese students are still on its wall.
Caring for each other, regardless of nationality and ethnic group, propels the human society and civilization, he said.
In his view, frequent non-governmental exchanges between the Russian and Chinese people over recent years, which were based on mutual care, took bilateral relations to new heights.
The "Ocean" center has signed cooperation deals with a number of Chinese educational institutions and receives Chinese students of all ages every year with ever improved curricula and recreational programs, Bazirevski said, adding that the center welcomes Chinese students in Vladivostok.