Yes this might be true that the children were found underneath their collapsed desks but have you been in a classroom in a Chinese public school. In the majority of these classrooms there are only these weak desks for a class for 60 to 80 students. Not a lot of room for anything else. I feel that one of the questions that needs to be asked is "why did so many of the schools fall down completely while other buildings did not receive nearly as much structural damage?" This was not true in every city but if many of them it was the norm. No matter what the answer is it is a very sad day for too many families here. Our hearts go out to you China.

They usually advise them to crouch UNDER their desks. Rescue workers usually found most dead students were under a desk because the desk collapsed onto them, but if students crouched NEXT to a heavy piece of furniture, they were often found alive. Why? When ceiling collapsed onto furniture, the furniture remnants provided a small triangle of airspace next to it. You want to be in that space. Pass it on!