For many on Long Island, the 7.9-magnitiude earthquake that shook central China Monday meant frantically calling loved ones to make sure they were safe.

The death toll from the quake has reached about 10,000 and another 10,000 in the Sichuan province are feared injured. The earthquake was felt as far away as Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan.

Stony Brook University graduate Francis Cheng recently returned from a trip to a city near the quake?s epicenter. He says he awoke to the news Monday morning and immediately called a close friend who was in China.

A Floral Park couple tried to reach their son Tim, who is in China on business, by telephone for hours after hearing of the quake. William O?Connor says his son reported sleeping on a car outside the city to be far away from tall buildings.

The quake was China?s worst in three decades.