More than 2,000 people including government officials, local
residents and earthquake experts gathered in Longyao county, north
China's
Hebei Province, on Wednesday to mark China's efforts in
fighting two devastating earthquakes that hit the region 40 years
ago.
Two earthquakes, measuring 6.8 degrees and 7.2 degrees on the
Richter scale, jolted Longyao and Ningjin counties in Xingtai
prefecture on March 8 and March 22, 1966 respectively, claiming
8,064 lives and injuring more than 38,000 people in an area of
23,000 square kilometers. The two quakes flattened more than five
million houses.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the
central government attached great importance to rescue work in the
affected areas. The late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai investigated
the disaster situation first-hand and visited local people the
second day after the two earthquakes occurred.
More than 20,000 Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers
started rescue work in the affected regions within one hour, and
more than 37,000 people from other parts of China also joined in
the rescue efforts.
New villages were built on the ruins of the earthquakes.
Other activities including an anti-earthquake and disaster
relief symposium, an inauguration of a memorial hall and the
unveiling of a monument to the Xingtai earthquakes.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2006)
