Memories of the Tangshan earthquake

July 28, 1976 was a day that shocked the people of the whole country! On this day, the city of Tangshan was almost wiped off the map!

I was six years old and already had some vague memories. In the early hours of that morning, I was still asleep when my father carried me out, and in the confusion I heard someone shouting, earthquake! Earthquake! I wasn't scared at the time, probably small, and secondly not experienced. I struggled to open my eyes to see that the sky was just bright. We lived in a courtyard house, there were several of them, and the neighbors were all dressed up and panicked. Fortunately, we were not the epicenter, and the house did not collapse.

It was dawn, but there was no sun, it was overcast, and it was raining at about nine o'clock. Dad built a personal bed with a kang mat, the small pitiful, eighty-year-old grandfather holding a warm bottle, wearing a pair of felt shoes lying in it, dad wearing a coat, wearing a straw hat in the rain, the second sister and mother took turns to hold me under the edge of the shop, the third sister and the people in the village were under a big rain cloth, the brothers did not know where to go.

When it was almost noon, I heard my mother and others say: What year is this, is this going to be a hi-hat in heaven and earth? The man said, "Oh, there is no clarity, you should eat and drink!" So at noon my mother made a meal of dumplings stuffed with leeks and eggs. Later, I heard my mother say that there were sheep in the family who killed the sheep, and anyway, there were good ones in the family who did not eat. I don't know if I can live anymore. After lunch, my sister carried me and the big guys under the rain cloth, and I had the idea of the sky collapsing and everyone dying. Suddenly someone shouted in the distance, and the tower on the hill fell! So people suddenly got up and ran west, and the third sister ran with me on her back. Running and running, I overheard someone shouting in front of me, go back! There's water in front of you! People hula back and forth! Now that I think about it, it is quite funny, some villagers carry cabinets, some lead sheep, really sacrifice their lives and money! But at that time, people's hearts were afraid, and they didn't know where to go to save a life!

When it was time to eat dinner, my mother said to my father: When there is no earthquake, you move the grain in the box room to a piece, block the board, and save the time to eat all the soil. It didn't take long for Dad to go in, and he heard the rumble and the whole house moved. At that time, our sisters shouted: Daddy, Daddy, you're coming out! The shouts of people are mixed with the sound of falling bricks and tiles, which is really thrilling! The rumble gradually faded away, our eyes were fixed on the box, there was no hope in our hearts, the house had collapsed! At this moment, there was a figure from the collapsed rock pile, it was Daddy! We cheered: Dad! Father! Afterwards, Dad said that it was a purlin that gave him the solution!

In fact, the earthquake in the early hours of the morning did not cause the house to collapse, because we were not the epicenter. But the earthquake in the afternoon collapsed the already battered house, and the houses at that time were almost all white ash or mud, not strong.

The old people who experienced that earthquake still have palpitations when they mention it! But I was young, and I remembered that! Everything else is to listen to my mother and others later. The city of Tangshan often has a small earthquake, and it has become accustomed to it. Big earthquake can't run, small earthquake doesn't have to run! Hopefully there will be no natural disasters in the world!