After two days, hundreds of phone calls and the overwhelming fear that no one would answer, Han Jiang received what he had been hoping for: three minutes on the phone with his family.

His parents had survived China's magnitude-7.9 earthquake Monday in their home only 30 miles from the deadly quake's epicenter. Now, unable to return home, Jiang said the thing he needed most after talking to his parents Wednesday was emotional support.

And that's what he received Saturday night as more than 200 people gathered for a candlelight memorial for the victims of the earthquake at Texas A&M University's Rudder Fountain.

Zengchao Hao, the president of the A&M Chinese Students and Scholars Association, said the memorial was meant to demonstrate the bond among not just the Chinese students, but among Aggies as a whole.

More than 1,000 students at Texas A&M are from China, Hao said, and 200 came to the U.S. just this year.

A severe aftershock -- the second in two days, measured by the U.S. Geological Survey at magnitude 6 -- shook China early Sunday for 45 seconds. The government has said it expects the death toll to surpass 50,000.

Disaster experts say China's quick actions are even more impressive when compared with the lackluster response of neighboring Myanmar to a deadly May 3 cyclone. The death toll following Cyclone Nargis has been estimated at 78,000, with numbers expected to rise because of the government's unusually slow, and even counterproductive, actions.

Jessica Wu said she hoped the campus memorial service would draw attention to China. Today, China is strong, developing and growing, she said, and will be able to pull together like never before.

Jiang, who came to the United States in 2002, said he had tried to call his parents daily since Wednesday, but the phone lines are congested.

"I prepared for the worst from the very beginning," he said, pausing to fight back the tears. "I'm lucky. There are some people who just weren't.

"As a human being in this natural disaster, we should stand together," he said referring to the international outpouring of support. "We're brothers and sisters all of us, and this is our chance to stand together and to stand strong."

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• Cassie Smith's e-mail address is cassie.smith@theeagle.com.

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