Kunsang Dekyi's family of 10 have been living in a makeshift tent since a deadly quake toppled their home in north China's Qinghai Province Wednesday.

All they have in the 10-square-meter tent are sheets and clothing they found in the rubble, and some relief food rationed by the local government.

No one knows when they will move into a decent home.

"We do feel cold and miserable," said Kunsang Dekyi, 18. "But just being alive is good enough."

The teenage girl, who is being trained as a nurse at a vocational school in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu, personally rescued her nine family members from the rubble of their home after the 7.1-magnitude quake.

"I got up early that day, because my school was far from home and I needed to get a photocopy of my ID on the way," she said.

After doing her photocopying, she felt the ground shaking and saw many houses collapse. "My family were still fast asleep when I left home."

She ran all the way home, only to find her family's Tibetan-style house on a hill in outer Yushu County crushed by rolling rocks.

"I wept as I dug away the rubble with all my might. I dug out my mom. Then she helped me dig out my brother and together we found my sister and her son."

Her sister had protected the child under her body. She had head and face injuries, but the child was safe.

Kunsang Dekyi dug for the whole day, helping to get all nine family members out of the ruins alive.

She also recovered her school certificate of merit from the ruins. "I got it at primary school. It was my first award of any kind."

A straight-A student, Kunsang Dekyi speaks fluent Tibetan and Mandarin and is one of the best students at her vocational school.

"I hope school will resume soon," she said. "I'm being trained to be a nurse. Now as quake survivors, we all will cherish life just as it is."