The earthquake struck Tangshan at 7:42 PM GMT on the 28th of December, 1976. It caused around 300,000 deaths and about 164,000 injured, making it the 3rd deadliest earthquake ever, after the 1556 Shanxi earthquake and the 2004 Indonesian earthquake. It measured 8.2 on the Richter Scale.
Cause
The cause of the earthquake is said to be the Northern Chinese plate clashing with the Southern China plate and also the Northern American Plate. It is weird because Tangshan isn't in an area that is usually vulnerable to earthquakes. The city itself lies on soil and virtually none of the buildings have been built to withstand earthquakes.
Early Warnings
It has been reported th
at half a month before the earthquake struck Wang Chengmin of the State Seismological Bureau had concluded that Tangshan would be struck by an earthquake in a couple week's time.
On the day the earthquake struck, somebody claimed their goldfish had repeatedly tried to jump out of its bowl before the earthquake struck. Its owner had put the goldfish back into its bowl, although it tried to escape several times later.
Damage
85% of the buildings in Tangshan were damaged and some buildings were damaged even in Beijing, which is 140 km away. Shaking was even felt in Xi'an, which is about 760 kilometers away. Damage was estimated at 10 billion yuan.
Death Toll
There are a few controversies about the death toll in the Tangshan earthquake. At first, the Chinese government said that 600,000 people had died in the Tangshan earthquake. Except that the real death toll was about 250,000 people. There was a bit of confusion but eventually, the government admitted that the death toll was about 250,000 people.
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