On this day: On 28 July 1976, a massive earthquake struck the Chinese industrial city of Tangshan, killing 242,000 people.
Buildings collapsed after the earthquake (File Photo)
Today’s date is associated with a terrible disaster in China. In fact, on this day in 1976, China faced one of its worst disasters ever. An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 and 8.2 on the Richter scale struck at 3:42 am on July 28. Due to this earthquake, the Chinese industrial city of Tangshan (Tangshan Earthquake) with a population of one million was shattered like a pack of cards. As it was night time, people were still sleeping. Due to this a large number of people lost their lives. The earthquake killed 2,42,000 people.
It is considered the most severe earthquake of modern times. China, located between the Indian and Pacific tectonic plates, has always been an active location for earthquakes. Earthquakes have also played an important role in Chinese culture and science. This is the reason why the Chinese were among the first to develop a working seismometer. The region of northern China affected by the Tangshan earthquake was particularly affected by the Pacific Plate. Before the Tangshan earthquake, only two seismic events had killed the most people. This includes the 1737 earthquake in Kolkata and the 1556 earthquake in Shanxi.
Strange things were happening in the city before the earthquake
A few days before the earthquake, strange things were happening in Tangshan. Sometimes the water level of the well would rise and sometimes it would decrease. Rats could be seen running in broad daylight. In addition, the chickens had stopped eating food. During the evening of July 27 and the morning of July 28, people reported flashing colorful lights and flashing lightning. Still people were sleeping soundly. Then at 3:42 am there was a tremendous earthquake. It lasted for about 23 seconds and it destroyed 90 percent of the buildings in the entire city. A quarter of the city’s population was killed and 160,000 people were injured.
the army was brought in to help
The Chinese government was not prepared for a disaster of this scale. The day after the earthquake, helicopters and planes began to drop food and medicine into the city. About a million soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army were stationed in Tangshan, while many had to walk more than 180 miles from Jinzhou. About 30,000 medical workers were called along with 30,000 construction workers. The Chinese government refused to take foreign relief aid, claiming self-reliance. In the first week after the earthquake, many people died due to lack of medical care.
Doubts over the number of people killed in the earthquake
The point to be noted here is that the soldiers were not trained by the rescue personnel for such rescue operations. Because of this, these people could not get people out from the rubble. At the same time, the incidents of looting also started increasing. On the other hand more than 160,000 families were rendered homeless and more than 4,000 children were orphaned. Tangshan was rebuilt with anti-earthquake technology. Today about 20 lakh people live there. There is speculation that the death toll from the 1976 earthquake was much higher than the official Chinese government figure of 2,42,000. Some Chinese sources said that more than five lakh people died in this earthquake.
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