Two months later, the rebuliding begins

"People are eager to start rebuilding their lives," she said. "But when you ask them what is the greatest need, they simply look at you and say, ‘I have lost everything. Everything is in need.’"

Two months after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the Red Cross is switching gears into recovery mode.

Those who lost their homes are slowly moving from tents into prefab shelters. While not ideal, they are a welcome respite from the 40-degree heat that suffocates Sichuan province.

The biggest challenge for those on the front lines of the recovery effort is rebuilding homes, especially as the region still suffers aftershocks, heavy rains, flooding and landslides. Inhabitants who live in mountain regions face the additional challenge of trying to rebuild while daily aftershocks continue to send whole mountains tumbling down.

In one region, two mountains collapsed in on each other, destroying everything in their path and cutting off all access between two populated valleys. These sorts of circumstances have made getting aid to certain areas extremely difficult, said Zhang.

Those who have lost their homes will receive $10,000 yuan ($1,474) from the government, which is far from enough, Zhang added.

Originally from Beijing, Zhang has been manager of the Asia Program for the Canadian Red Cross for eight years and participated in relief operations after the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 and the Chinese floods in 2003.

The wife and mother of two said she has been working long hours since the earthquake.

Being in China has been an especially grueling task as she has had to be on around-the-clock alert, coordinating thousands of people while battling one natural hardship after another.

In the past few months, China has undoubtedly suffered Mother Nature’s wrath — from earthquakes to heavy rains to locusts. It’s no surprise then that the Olympic Games are the furthest thing from the minds of those living in Sichuan Province.

"People aren’t really talking about the Olympics," she said. "There are so many other priorities and so many more burning issues."