a night the earth didn't sleep
strange things were happening in the countryside of northeast hebei.for three days the water in the village wells rose and fell,rose and fell.farmers noticed that the well walls had deep cracks in them.a smelly gas came out of the cracks.in the farmyards,the chickens and even the pigs were too nervo** to eat.mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide.f**h jumped out of their bowls and ponds.at about 3:00 am on july 28,1976,some people saw bright lights in the sky.the sound of planes could be heard outside the city of tangshan even when no planes were in the sky.in the city,the water pipes in some buildings cracked and burst.but the one million people of the city,who thiught little of these events,were asleep as usual that night.
at 3:42 am everything began to shake.it seemed as if the world was at an end!eleven kilometres directly below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th century had begun.it was felt in beijing,which ** than two hundred kilometres away.one-third of the nation felt it.a huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirty metres wide cut across houses,roads and canals.steam burst from holes in the ground.hard hills of rock became rivers of dir.in fif** terrible seconds a large city lay in ruins.the suffering of the people was extreme.two-thirds of them died or were left without parents.the number of people who were killed or injured reached than 400,000.
but how could the survivors believe it was natural?everywhere they looked nearly everything was destroyed.all of the city's hospitals,75%of its factories and buildings and 90%of its homes were gone.bricks covered the ground like red autumn le**es.no wind,however,could blow them away.two dams fell and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for tr**elling.the railway tracks were now useless pieces of steel.tens of thousands of cows would never give milk again.half a million oigs and millions of chickens were dead.sand now filled the wells instead of water.people were shocked.then,later that afternoon,another big quake which was almost as strong as the first one shook tangshan.some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins.more buildings fell down.water,food,and electricity were hard to get.people begab to wonder how long the d**aster would last.
all hope was not lost.soon after the quakes,the army sent 150,000 soldiers to tangshan to help the rescue workers.hundreds of thousands of people were helped.the army organized teams to dig out those who were trapped and to bury the dead.to the north of the city,most of the 10,000 miners were rescued from the coal mines there.workers built shelters for survivors whose homes had been destroyed.fresh water was taken to the city bu train,truck and plane.slowly,the city began to breathe again.
office of the city **
tangshan,hebei
河北省东北部的农村不断有些怪事发生。三天来，村子里的井水升升降降，起起伏伏，农民注意到，水井的井壁上有深深的裂缝，裂缝里冒着臭气，农家大院里的鸡设置猪也紧张到不想吃食，老鼠从田地里跑出来找地方藏身，鱼缸和池塘里的鱼会往外跳，在1976年七月28日凌晨3点左右。有些人看到天上有一道道明亮的光，即使没有飞机飞过。在唐山城外也可以听到飞机声。在市内。有些建筑物的水管爆开来，但是。唐山市的一百万居民几乎都没有把这些情况当一回事。当晚照常的睡了。在凌晨3点42分。一切开始摇晃起来了。世界似乎到了末日。二十世纪最大的地震就在唐山市正下方11公里处发生了。100公里外的北京市都感到了震感。全国三分之一的地方都有震感。一条8公里的长，30米宽的巨大裂缝横穿房舍。马路和渠道。地上一些洞穴冒出了蒸汽。石头山变成了泥沙河，在可怕的十五秒内一座大城市就沉沦在一片废墟之中。人们遭受的灾难极为严重。2/3的人在地震中死亡或受伤。成千上万个家庭遇难。许多小孩变成了孤儿。死伤人数到达了40多万。幸存的人怎么能相信这个是自然现象。人们无论朝哪里看，那里的一切几乎都被毁了。所有市内的医院，75%的工厂和建筑物，90%的家园都消失了。残砖就像秋天的红叶覆盖着大地。然而他们不可能被风吹走，两座大坝跨了。多数桥梁不是塌了就是无法完全通行了。铁轨如今变成了一条条废钢。好几万头牛再也挤不出奶来了。50万头猪和几百万头鸡全都死了。井里满是撒子而不是水，人们惊呆了，接着，在下午的晚些时候，又一次和第一次一样强烈的地震震撼着唐山，有些医生和救援人人员被困在废墟下面，更多发房屋倒塌了，水电和食物都很难弄到，人们开始纳闷这场灾难还会持续多久，不是所有的希望都破灭了，地震后不久，部队派了15万名战士到唐山来协助救援人员，数十万人得到了帮助，部分人员组成了小分队，将受困的人们挖出来，将死者掩埋，在唐山市的北边，有一个煤矿，其中万名矿工得救了，救援人员为那些家园被毁的幸存者盖起了避难所。用火车，卡车，和飞机向市内运来了水，慢慢地，这座城市又开始出现了生机