Chapter 27 26. 1976: Tangshan was leveled

The history of 1976 was thrilling, and Tangshan in 1976 was horrible.Tangshan is one of eleven prefecture-level cities in Hebei Province.It is a coastal heavy industrial city with a century-old history.Located in the center of the Bohai Bay Rim, it borders the Bohai Sea in the south, Yanshan Mountain in the north, Qinhuangdao City in the east, and Beijing and Tianjin in the west. It is an important throat and corridor connecting the two major regions of North China and Northeast China.China's first modern coal mine, the first standard gauge railway, the first steam locomotive, the first bag of cement, and the first piece of sanitary porcelain were all born here. It is known as the cradle of modern Chinese industry and the northern porcelain capital. .But unfortunately, it's also on a seismic zone. The Great Tangshan Earthquake that occurred at 3:42 on July 28, 1976 made this city a pain for China forever. To this day, thinking about or re-reading the text describing the Tangshan Earthquake still makes people shudder.

The time was around 4:10 am on July 28, 1976.The location is Tangshan.The protagonist is of unknown origin. Li Yulin, former vice-chairman of the trade union of Tangshan Mine, and Cao Guocheng, officer of the Armed Forces Department of Tangshan Mine, emerged from the ruins of the dormitory area.Just before half disappeared, the city was hit like never before. The writer Qian Gang described this still shocking disaster in his book describing the Tangshan Earthquake: "Tangshan lost its dawn for the first time. It was shrouded in mist. Lime, loess, coal dust, smoke and dust And the dead matter produced when a city was destroyed, mixed into a gray fog. The extremely thick fog permeated and floated, rising piece by piece, wisp, wisp, and floc, like slowly suspending in the The veil in the sky silently enveloped the ruins, the silent city of doom."The parallel rails were distorted by the force from the earth's crust like dead bent snakes; the buildings collapsed as if they had suffered a heavy blow from the sky;

Human beings who have been hit hard are suddenly unable to understand how they have been hit.When Li Yunlin and Cao Guocheng escaped from the ruins, like most unfortunate victims, they did not understand why this happened.Like almost everyone, they underestimated their suffering and the extent of their redemption. Their first choice is to go to the mine party committee to report the situation here.Ten minutes later, when the two men stood on the rubble of the office building of the mine party committee, they realized that this was no longer a problem that the mine party committee could solve: the entire Kailuan Mining Bureau and Tangshan The city itself is in ruins and needs to be addressed.

They met a third person, Cui Zhiliang, who was also at a loss, the ambulance driver of the Tangshan Mine. He drove from the mine back to the mine party committee to report. Facing the ruins in front of them, the three of them were at a loss.This huge and sudden disaster has exceeded their personal understanding, let alone their personal control ability.The only thing an individual can rely on, or get a sense of security from, is an organization. "Get in the car! Look for a phone," Li Yulin said. But where to find the phone?Who to call?The former question may have an answer, but the latter question is completely at a loss.

At this time, another driver, Yuan Qingwu, also joined them.The four men thus embark on a most thrilling journey of message delivery.This journey is always reminiscent of the night riding of Boston silversmith Paul Revere.He rode 13 miles at night in two hours, passing the news of the British invasion to the militia along the way.Thus, when the British began their advance on Lexington, they found themselves facing organized resistance and heavy blows.The conflict eventually blew up into a massive war that historians later dubbed the "American War of Independence."Like Paul Revere's night ride on horseback, the night drive of the four Tangshan people is also an excellent example of a small person influencing history by passing on information.It's just that the latter is too painful.

The red ambulance moved forward like a burning flame along the road, extremely critical, but helpless.The car raced along the road, and the occupants were stunned by what they witnessed.They passed seven large guest houses, all of which had been reduced to a mass of dust, rubble and brick.People were either crushed or moaning and crying under the rubble, while survivors stood by the roadside, bewildered.Li Yulin counted carefully, and there were only dozens of survivors standing by the roadside. Someone waved to stop the car and asked to transport the wounded. Li Yunlin yelled at the driver: "Hurry up! It's important to call!" The angry crowd yelled at the red ambulance, and some picked up bricks and rubble and threw them at them.

They should have passed through many such crowds, suffered countless such insults and stones thrown at the ambulance.When someone on the outskirts of the city shouted to them: "Send the wounded to Tangshan quickly", the armed officer Cao Guocheng poked his head out and said, "Hey, Tangshan is completely leveled! Houses have collapsed, where is there any hospital? You should quickly organize self-rescue!" The car drove through one village after another, passing through ruins, crying and helpless crowds.They searched for the phone from place to place, but since the houses with the phones were in ruins, where else could they be found?

The secretary of the county party committee was circling anxiously on the ruins with a pistol on his back. The city under his rule was reduced to scorched earth, but as a parent official or a public servant of the people, he could do nothing about it; In that unfortunate city; the staff of the Seismological Bureau who came to look for the epicenter wanted to learn about the disaster in Tangshan from their mouths. Later, one of them got into the car of Li Yulin and others, while the other driver, Yuan Qingwu, followed the team of the Seismological and Geological Brigade. The car returns to Tangshan.

They continued to search for the phone.Has been found in the suburbs of Beijing.Li Yunlin was trying to find a phone number from a factory, when the factory janitor said: "Why are you still hanging up? If you have time to wait for the phone call, the car will arrive!" The red ambulance continued to run wildly and drove into Beijing City, honking the siren all the way forward, regardless of whether the light was green or not. But where? The staff of the Earthquake Bureau in the car suggested to go to the Earthquake Bureau. "How long will it take you to report to the central government?"

"It took half a day to go back and complete a copy of the materials." "Half a day? That's no more troublesome than making a phone call! Go to the State Council!" Li Yulin shouted. Go to the State Department!It was the most daring decision a union official in the Bureau of Mines could make, and one that ordinary people rarely have the chance to make in their lifetime. The ambulance drove to the gate of the reception station of the State Council.Li Yulin put on a ragged car repairing clothes, then squatted on the side of the road, using the rainwater on the ground to wash the blood on his hands - during the earthquake, he picked up a child from the ruins, and the blood on the child's mother stained his hands bright red .

The four were led into the Ziguang Pavilion in Zhongnanhai by soldiers at the reception station of the State Council.An emergency meeting of the Politburo on the earthquake has just ended.Li Xiannian, Chen Xilian, Chen Yonggui, Ji Dengkui, Wu Guixian and Wu De were discussing with the map. Li Yulin said immediately, "Boss, Tangshan is completely flat! We must send troops, mine rescue teams, and medical teams as soon as possible." The three vice-premiers came over and hugged the excited Tangshan people, hugging their troubled people. Tangshan made a strong mark for 1976 in an unprecedented and tragic way.An example cited by Qian Gang from the earthquake relief materials of the Tangshan Military Division can illustrate the extent of its tragedy. "A truck full of wounded people was driving to Yutian County. The car was having difficulty walking, the steering wheel seemed to be malfunctioning, and the wheels were sometimes tilted to the left and sometimes to the right; when going uphill, there was black smoke, and it was impossible to climb up for a long time. The car finally After driving to Yutian County, the wounded were carried out of the car one by one. At this time, someone told the driver to get off the car and rest, but there was no response after shouting for a long time. When the driver's door was opened, people were shocked: the driver was seriously injured. He was crushed, his intestines leaked out, and his left hand was broken. When people tried to help him out of the car, they found him dead on the steering wheel, and the cab was covered in blood." All the politicians were shocked, even though many of them might be at odds with each other, might be worrying, hesitant, or gathering strength for the upcoming struggle in the party.A person who experienced the great earthquake recalled that when the survivors met each other, the first sentence was: "Comrade, do you think Chairman Mao knows about the earthquake here?" In the early hours of that day, Mao Zedong finished taking sleeping pills and fell asleep as usual.Despite such a tragic disaster in the country under his rule.After Wang Dongxing from the General Office of the Central Committee came to see the founding father, he did not wake him up and told him what kind of suffering his people were going through.At this time, it was less than two months before he passed away. It wasn't until three years later that people understood exactly how the misery manifested itself in numbers. In November 1979, Xu Xuejiang, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, was invited to participate in the National Earthquake Consultation Conference and the Founding Conference of the Seismological Society of China held in Dalian. "At the meeting on the last day, the participating earthquake experts were notified of the situation of the Tangshan earthquake, including the death toll. I feel that this is the long-awaited news of the whole country and the world, and we must do everything possible to report it." Xu Xuejiang recalled.Xu Xuejiang wrote good news and persuaded the organizers of the conference to agree to release, "Instead of allowing speculation and rumors to fly, it is better to officially announce the real situation. This is a death caused by a natural disaster, not caused by man-made, and has no direct relationship with the government." In the end, there was no explanation why the number of deaths and injuries was released more than three years later. Two figures were released by Xinhua News Agency: more than 240,000 people died and more than 160,000 people were seriously injured. In 1924, the 8.2-magnitude Tokyo earthquake killed about 100,000 people. After the earthquake, every year in the early morning of July 28, people burn paper money at all intersections in Tangshan.The figures on the street swayed behind clusters of yellow flames.Because the bodies could not be identified after the earthquake, they were bulldozed into large pits for mass burial.The survivors didn't know where their parents, brothers and sisters were buried, so they could only send greetings from the world to their relatives at various intersections on Tangshan Street. This disaster has left an unforgettable shadow on countless people. For example, a woman interviewed by Qian Gang could no longer eat any sweets for the rest of her life; It has been as long as ten years to swallow three tablets of "Valium" every day to fall asleep-why the shadow of the earthquake has not been predicted has been lingering in the old man's heart; and Tangshan writer Zhang Qingzhou in his new book (Zhang Qingzhou's book published in 2006 has A frightening name: "Tangshan Warning - The Story of Underreporting the July 28 Earthquake". This writer is proving that this catastrophe could have been avoided.) It disclosed that an earthquake expert wrote a letter to predict the earthquake. Ma Xirong, an expert on the earthquake, said in the letter: "I went to your place in mid-July 1976. Due to my limited ability, I failed the people's expectations of us. We are guilty of the people." The inner torment kept them going. blame yourself.