On This DayIn 1976, earthquake in China’s Tangshan kills over 240,000 people – SCMP archive

This article was first published on July 29, 1976. Quake rocks Northern China by Staff Reporters Heavy casualties and severe damage to industrial plants and property were feared when the strongest earthquake for 12 years struck the industrial belt of northern Hopei Province early yesterday (July 28, 1976) morning. The tremor was followed by a series of aftershocks and 16 hours after the first quake, an aftershock of almost the same intensity struck the same area, causing further damage and casualties. Confirmed dead was a Japanese businessman in Tangshan, which was close to the epicentre of the tremor, about 90 miles east-southeast of Peking. Six other Japanese were injured and were receiving treatment in a Peking hospital last night. A Frenchwoman aged about 30 was reported by French sources in Peking to have been killed in the same city. And the visiting former Australian Prime Minister, Mr Gough Whitlam, who spent a night in Tientsin, told reporters in Peking before flying to Japan last night that he had been told by his Chinese hosts that there were some dead in Tientsin. There also appeared to be “an awful lot of damage” in that municipality, he added. The original tremor, which the Chinese said measured 7.3 on the open-ended Richter scale but which both American and Hongkong seismologists said measured 8.2, struck without warning at 3.45 am local time in Peking (4.45 am Hongkong Summer Time). It lasted one minute and 10 seconds. This was followed by several secondary tremors throughout the day. And at 6.50 pm Peking Time (7.50 pm Hongkong Summer Time), an aftershock measuring 7.8 struck the same area and American seismologists said this tremor was expected to have caused further damage. As reports began to flow in, it appeared that damage to many areas was considerable. Electricity supply was cut off, telephone links and railway traffic were disrupted and the Taching-Peking oil pipeline was feared broken. In the capital, damaged buildings included the Hsin Chiao Hotel, the old wing of the Peking Hotel, buildings in the embassy quarter, a wing of the main railway station and a department store in the centre of Peking, according to the Italian news agency, Ansa. Fire could be seen after the first tremor a long way from Peking in what was thought to be an oil refinery. In Tientsin, the hotel where Mr and Mrs Whitlam stayed “literally broke in two.” Foreigners spent the rest of the morning in the International Club. Of the known foreign dead, the Japanese businessman, Mr Yoshi Yukisunaga, a representative of Hitachi Ltd, was killed in Tangshan when a building collapsed. His body was flown to Peking together with six other Japanese injured in the quake. The Japanese were in Tangshan to erect an electric power plant. The Frenchwoman, a member of a touring Franco-Chinese friendship group, was killed in her bed when a concrete wall fell on her. Her husband who was with the same group was not hurt. The name of the woman was withheld until her family had been informed. Another known casualty was a Chinese student at the Foreign Language Institute, who broke his legs as he jumped from the fourth floor of the building. Reported safe in China was the Philippine cultural delegation which was in Tientsin at the time of the earthquake. The group has since gone to Hangchow. In spite of the earthquake, the people of Peking as well as elsewhere in the stricken areas, remained calm and disciplined following a very brief, initial panic as the jolt sent thousands into the streets. Almost all reports of the tremor came from news agencies and foreign residents in Peking reached by long distance telephone calls. Up to late last night the Chinese authorities had not officially announced the disaster although foreign residents were unofficially told that it was of “an eruption type.” The earthquake was the largest since the disastrous Alaskan earthquake in March 1964. That tremor measured 8.5 on the Richter scale and although casualties were relatively few, numbering 110, damage amounted to some US$350 million (HK$1,750 million). Hongkong’s seismographs placed the epicentre at 39.6 degrees north and 118.1 degrees east, extremely close to Tangshan. The district struck by the tremor contains one of the heaviest industrial concentrations in the country. Tangshan itself is known for its steel and electrical machinery plants and the city itself stands on top of an empty coal pit, the area being a former major coal producing centre. And near Tangshan is China’s biggest and model coal mine today Kailuan Coal Mine. To the northeast is Chinghuantao, a major oil port through which the Taching-Peking oil pipeline passes. To the southwest is the Tientsin municipality and one of the major industrial complexes with both light and heavy industrial plants, including oil refining and the port city of Hsinkang, part of which is now being converted into a container port. Just south of Tientsin is one of China’s three major oilfields, Takang, which will reputedly surpass the Taching oilfield in future production. The earthquake struck without warning and a Chinese spokesman in Peking was quoted by Reuter as saying that the earthquake had not been predicted. The tremor “was of a quite sudden nature and it is possible there will be aftershocks.” About the only warnings the millions of slumbering people in the industrial belt had were the barkings of dogs minutes before the quake struck. Many who were awakened made for the streets, some screaming, as the tremor came and stayed on the pavements throughout the morning. As dawn broke, security police toured the capital warning people to stay outdoors because of the danger of further tremors. Just when people were beginning to get over their fright, scarcely one hour after the first shock, there was a second tremor, which, though relatively weak, was enough to revive anxiety. A few hours later people were again in the grip of real fear when a strong quake rocked the ground and made the taller buildings sway alarmingly. Once again people fled into the streets as after the first shock. Everybody became thoroughly alarmed, reported AFP. Torrential rains, which began shortly after dawn, forced the people to put up impromptu canvas shelters and tents. Makeshift stoves, chairs and even beds were dragged out on the verges of the broad tree-lined avenues, and thousands of people crouched under coloured umbrellas to take their mid-day meals. Apart from the first few moments, there was no sign of panic among the population, said the AFP. But there was an undercurrent of tension, natural enough in the circumstances. Casualties in the capital were thought to have been light, said a Reuter report, although some vehicles equipped with blood plasma raced through the debris-littered streets with lights blazing, indicating some people were injured. There were piles of debris at the entrances of many old buildings, but the ancient part of Peking seemed to have withstood the tremors. Everything appeared normal in front of the residence of Chairman Mao Tse-tung in Chungnanhai and other public buildings. A number of streets, particularly in the former legation district in the centre of Peking, were strewn with bricks, tiles and even large stones which had fallen from buildings as well as branches of trees broken off when sections of wall fell down. The Pei Hua Ta Lo Department Store, the largest in Peking, in Wangfujing Street, sustained some minor damage. There was minor damage too to the oldest section of the Grand Hotel. The modern buildings in the residential districts for foreigners stood up well to the shocks but cracks appeared on the facades of some 15-storey concrete buildings. Some buildings were so badly shaken that doors could not be opened. AFP’s Rene Flipo, who was with a group of diplomats on holiday at Peitaiho 50 miles west of Tangshan, reported that the resort appeared to have been cut off from Peking both by road and by rail. Diplomats from Chile and Japan, accustomed to quakes, were alarmed by the strength of the shocks while others experiencing their first earthquake were less anxious. China has made a massive effort to develop the science of earthquake prediction. Its scientists claim to have saved thousands of lives by predicting three major quakes in the past 18 months: a 7.3 magnitude quake in February last year in Liaotung Peninsula, and two shocks registering 6.9 in western China two months ago. And in March last year, Chinese scientists issued a general warning predicting a large earthquake in northeast China before 1980. They also warned people in the Peking-Tientsin area to be prepared. However, there was no immediate warning of yesterday’s earthquake as was the case of the Liaotung Peninsula tremor. The Richter scale records ground movement and the increase of one in number on the scale means a 10-fold increase in the earthquake’s force. A tremor registering seven is considered to be a major one capable of widespread, heavy damage, while the reading of “eight” means a huge earthquake with the possibility of tremendous damage.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}On this day 50 years ago, the deadliest earthquake in recorded history razed the mining town of Tangshan in China’s Hebei province

Quake rocks Northern China

On this day 50 years ago, the deadliest earthquake in recorded history razed the mining town of Tangshan in China’s Hebei province