Published : 2024-07-28
On July 28, 1976, a major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Tangshan (唐山), Hebei, causing over 242,000 deaths.
At 3:42 am on the same day, a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Tangshan and Fengnan in the eastern part of Hebei. The emerging heavy-industrial city of Tangshan suffered a severe disaster, being reduced to ruins.
The epicentre of the earthquake was around Jixiang Road in the Lunan District of Tangshan, with a focal depth of 12 kilometres.
The earthquake impacted a vast area, with strong shock waves spreading across a large part of eastern China, from Manzhouli in Heilongjiang in the north to Henan's Piaohe in the south, the Bohai Bay in the east and Ningxia's Mount Mingzui in the West.
Hundreds of millions of people in 14 provinces, municipalities, and regions covering an area of more than 2 million square kilometres felt the tremor.
The area destroyed by the earthquake was about 210,000 square kilometres, and the severely damaged area was over 30,000 square kilometres.
Numerous residential buildings within this area collapsed; farmlands were filled with mud and silt; water canals were blocked, and serious damage was done to roads, railways, and bridges.
