Organized earthquake relief in Tangshan and Fengnan. On the evening of July 27, 1976, I attended a meeting of the Political Bureau at the Jingxi Hotel. I had dinner at the Jingxi Hotel with security staff officer Ma Yuchang and driver Liang Deyuan.

organized Tangshan and Fengnan earthquake relief

On the evening of July 27, 1976, I attended a meeting of the Political Bureau at Jingxi Hotel . The meeting lasted until more than 1 o'clock in the morning on the 28th. I had dinner at the Jingxi Hotel with security staff officer Ma Yuchang and driver Liang Deyuan.

I said to Xiao Ma: Secretary Li Bafu is still hungry in the office, please bring him some fried dough sticks back. It was already past two o'clock in the morning when we got home. After I took a shower, I took sleeping pills and went to sleep. While I was sleeping, a violent shaking woke me up. I live in an old house that has been in disrepair for a long time. The dirt on the roof and the white ash on the walls are falling down, and the house creaks.

Because the frame of the house was twisted, the door frame was deformed and the door could not be opened. Later, the guard kicked the door open with his feet, and my family and I ran into the yard.

Everyone in the hospital ran out of the room. I thought it was an earthquake, but where was the epicenter? How high was the magnitude? Are there any casualties? I didn't know any of these situations, so I drove straight to Zhongnanhai.

In the conference room of the State Council, Comrade Xiannian and several other vice prime ministers arrived at the same time, and everyone anxiously asked each other. After dawn, four comrades including Li Yulin, who worked in the Tangshan City Trade Union, could not find the organization, the municipal committee, or the prefectural committee. Regardless of the safety of their families and risking their lives, they came directly to Beijing and found Zhongnanhai. Reported to the central government the severe earthquake in Tangshan. After listening to the tearful reports from Li Yulin and other comrades, I felt very anxious and uncomfortable, thinking that the people of Tangshan were in great trouble. Time is life. Comrade Xiannian asked the staff to quickly get food for them and find clothes for them to change into. Our Politburo members in Beijing immediately held an emergency meeting and decided to establish the Central Earthquake Relief Headquarters. The members include me, Ji Dengkui, Wu De, Chen Yonggui, Wu Guixian and others, I took the lead in mobilizing troops to organize earthquake relief. At the same time, a frontline headquarters was established in Tangshan, headed by Comrade Liu Zihou, director of the Hebei Provincial Revolutionary Committee.

According to the information provided by Li Yulin and four other comrades and the judgment of the national seismological department, the epicenter of this strong earthquake that affected Beijing was in Tangshan and Fengnan areas of Hebei Province. This major earthquake is a rare natural disaster in the history of our country and the world. The exact time of the earthquake was 3:42 on July 28. The epicenter was in Lunan District, Tangshan City. The epicenter was 14 kilometers away from the ground. The magnitude was 7.8. The earthquake zone had a rupture of 11 degrees. There were visible faults on the ground at the epicenter. 9 kilometers long, the ground on both sides of the fault has shifted horizontally by 1.2 to 1.5 meters and vertically by 0.3 to 0.4 meters.

At 18:42 on the same day, another strong aftershock of magnitude 7.1 occurred. Almost all ground buildings within 370 square kilometers around in Tangshan City collapsed, railways, highways, and bridges were severely damaged, and water, electricity, and communications were all interrupted. Since it happened in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep, there were heavy casualties. At that time, the people who were rescued by themselves and each other by the masses and the local garrison were covered with bruises and had no food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. The people trapped in the ruins were waiting for rescue, and the critically injured were in need of treatment. In addition, the Wanhe embankment , Douhe Reservoir dam was damaged, posing a new threat to people's lives and property, and the people in the disaster area were in great distress and crisis.

At this time, Chairman Mao was already in very bad health, but he still read the "Notice on Earthquake Relief in Fengnan, Tangshan" with amazing perseverance. I remember the first time I reported that the chairman was critically ill. We went to see him. The chairman opened his eyes, held hands with me, and said, "Are you a Xilian?" I said I am a Xilian. Chairman, you should take good care of yourself. Several stalls were identified at that time. Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing greeted the chairman. Li Xiannian and Yu Qiuli, who were in charge of economics, were responsible for daily work in the State Council. We were responsible for earthquake relief in the Great Hall of the People.

Those people of the "Gang of Four", although they are usually arrogant and arrogant, are actually very timid and very afraid of death. We were having a meeting in the Great Hall when there was a strong aftershock. The pillars shook a few times. Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao were so frightened that they did not dare to sit on the chairs and ran into the hut.

organized Tangshan and Fengnan earthquake relief

On the evening of July 27, 1976, I attended a meeting of the Political Bureau at Jingxi Hotel . The meeting lasted until more than 1 o'clock in the morning on the 28th. I had dinner at the Jingxi Hotel with security staff officer Ma Yuchang and driver Liang Deyuan.

I said to Xiao Ma: Secretary Li Bafu is still hungry in the office, please bring him some fried dough sticks back. It was already past two o'clock in the morning when we got home. After I took a shower, I took sleeping pills and went to sleep. While I was sleeping, a violent shaking woke me up. I live in an old house that has been in disrepair for a long time. The dirt on the roof and the white ash on the walls are falling down, and the house creaks.

Because the frame of the house was twisted, the door frame was deformed and the door could not be opened. Later, the guard kicked the door open with his feet, and my family and I ran into the yard.

Everyone in the hospital ran out of the room. I thought it was an earthquake, but where was the epicenter? How high was the magnitude? Are there any casualties? I didn't know any of these situations, so I drove straight to Zhongnanhai.

In the conference room of the State Council, Comrade Xiannian and several other vice prime ministers arrived at the same time, and everyone anxiously asked each other. After dawn, four comrades including Li Yulin, who worked in the Tangshan City Trade Union, could not find the organization, the municipal committee, or the prefectural committee. Regardless of the safety of their families and risking their lives, they came directly to Beijing and found Zhongnanhai. Reported to the central government the severe earthquake in Tangshan. After listening to the tearful reports from Li Yulin and other comrades, I felt very anxious and uncomfortable, thinking that the people of Tangshan were in great trouble. Time is life. Comrade Xiannian asked the staff to quickly get food for them and find clothes for them to change into. Our Politburo members in Beijing immediately held an emergency meeting and decided to establish the Central Earthquake Relief Headquarters. The members include me, Ji Dengkui, Wu De, Chen Yonggui, Wu Guixian and others, I took the lead in mobilizing troops to organize earthquake relief. At the same time, a frontline headquarters was established in Tangshan, headed by Comrade Liu Zihou, director of the Hebei Provincial Revolutionary Committee.

According to the information provided by Li Yulin and four other comrades and the judgment of the national seismological department, the epicenter of this strong earthquake that affected Beijing was in Tangshan and Fengnan areas of Hebei Province. This major earthquake is a rare natural disaster in the history of our country and the world. The exact time of the earthquake was 3:42 on July 28. The epicenter was in Lunan District, Tangshan City. The epicenter was 14 kilometers away from the ground. The magnitude was 7.8. The earthquake zone had a rupture of 11 degrees. There were visible faults on the ground at the epicenter. 9 kilometers long, the ground on both sides of the fault has shifted horizontally by 1.2 to 1.5 meters and vertically by 0.3 to 0.4 meters.

At 18:42 on the same day, another strong aftershock of magnitude 7.1 occurred. Almost all ground buildings within 370 square kilometers around in Tangshan City collapsed, railways, highways, and bridges were severely damaged, and water, electricity, and communications were all interrupted. Since it happened in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep, there were heavy casualties. At that time, the people who were rescued by themselves and each other by the masses and the local garrison were covered with bruises and had no food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. The people trapped in the ruins were waiting for rescue, and the critically injured were in need of treatment. In addition, the Wanhe embankment , Douhe Reservoir dam was damaged, posing a new threat to people's lives and property, and the people in the disaster area were in great distress and crisis.

At this time, Chairman Mao was already in very bad health, but he still read the "Notice on Earthquake Relief in Fengnan, Tangshan" with amazing perseverance. I remember the first time I reported that the chairman was critically ill. We went to see him. The chairman opened his eyes, held hands with me, and said, "Are you a Xilian?" I said I am a Xilian. Chairman, you should take good care of yourself. Several stalls were identified at that time. Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing greeted the chairman. Li Xiannian and Yu Qiuli, who were in charge of economics, were responsible for daily work in the State Council. We were responsible for earthquake relief in the Great Hall of the People.

Those people of the "Gang of Four", although they are usually arrogant and arrogant, are actually very timid and very afraid of death. We were having a meeting in the Great Hall when there was a strong aftershock. The pillars shook a few times. Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao were so frightened that they did not dare to sit on the chairs and ran into the hut.We all sat there motionless. After the headquarters was established, we worked, ate, and lived in the Taiwan Hall, where we stayed for more than 50 days. At the beginning, the work was extremely busy, understanding the disaster situation, mobilizing troops, transporting the wounded, raising supplies... Everyone was working day and night. Fortunately, my health is still good. I rarely sleep a wink for several days and nights, so I can still withstand it. Comrade Ji Dengkui was not in good health. Sometimes he was too tired to support himself, so he would lie on the carpet and arrange his work.

The army played a very important role in earthquake relief. After the earthquake, I thought that such a huge disaster would be impossible without troops, so I sent a message to the Beijing Military Region and Shenyang Military Region, asking them to be prepared. After the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao approved the report on mobilizing troops for earthquake relief, an order was issued to mobilize two military headquarters, five military forward commanders, five military-level special forces forward commanders, and 15 divisions (including Ten entire divisions, most of five divisions), two infrastructure detachments, and 125 medical teams totaling more than 100,000 people arrived in Tangshan and the surrounding 10 counties from 11 a.m. to 29 on the day of the earthquake, and quickly launched rescue operations. Disaster relief. Another 14,000 people from two divisions of the Railway Corps went to the disaster area to repair railways and restore traffic.

Due to the sudden earthquake, time constraints, the troops lacked experience in urban earthquake relief, coupled with the destruction of roads and bridges, harsh climate, harsh environment, and frequent aftershocks, it caused great difficulties for the troops' operations and rescue and disaster relief. The people should keep in mind the purpose of our army to serve the people wholeheartedly, fully carry forward the revolutionary spirit of "one is not afraid of hardship, and the other is not afraid of death", go through fire and water for the interests of the people, leave the hope of life to the people, and leave the threat of death to the people. For themselves, they overcame many difficulties and devoted themselves to the rescue and disaster relief struggle without any hesitation. All rescue work is generally carried out in four stages.

The first stage is to go all out to rescue the trapped people, treat and transport the wounded, and rush to transport relief supplies. According to statistics, more than 16,400 buried people were rescued, more than 30,000 critically ill patients were rescued, and more than 90,000 injured people were transported to 11 provinces and cities across the country.

The second stage mainly involves digging up and burying corpses, arranging people's lives, and restoring and establishing organizations at all levels. The task of exhuming and burying the remains was very arduous. Because it was a hot summer day, the body was rotting. Cadres and soldiers were not afraid of the stench or the water covering their bodies with corpses. Some vomited several times a day, and some fainted next to the corpses due to ammonia poisoning, but still did not leave the line of fire. During the most stressful days of exhuming corpses, the troops were generally unable to eat and became physically thin, but no one complained. People in the disaster area said: Only our young soldiers can do such a thing in the world.

The third stage is mainly to dig out important materials that have been suppressed, such as medicine, food, grain, daily necessities, etc., to help people build simple houses and enhance their self-rescue capabilities.

The fourth stage is to continue to help the masses resume production, build schools, shops, hospitals and other public facilities, and organize the masses to harvest and plant in the autumn during the farming season.

During the earthquake relief period, the great leader Chairman Mao passed away. The people across the country were immersed in great grief. The military and civilians in the disaster area turned their grief into strength and expressed their condolences to Chairman Mao with practical actions to win the victory in earthquake relief. After less than two months of intense fighting, the Tangshan earthquake relief work achieved a major victory. All the injured were properly resettled. Industrial and agricultural production, transportation, water, electricity, communications, etc. were quickly restored. The streets were smooth and people were moved into their homes. With simple houses that can survive the winter, the lives of urban people are guaranteed. Such a huge natural disaster, if It happened in the old society. I don’t know how many people died of disease and hunger, and how many people were displaced. Only in our new socialist China, under the leadership of the great Communist Party of China, when one side is in trouble, all parties support and unite. , united as one, created a great miracle in the history of human conquest of nature. The victory in earthquake relief shows that our party deserves to be a great party, our army deserves to be the people's soldiers, our people deserve to be a heroic people, and our country is a great socialist country that can withstand severe tests.

On the occasion of the decisive victory in earthquake relief, entrusted by the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, the State Council and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, I went to Tangshan on October 4, 1976 to comfort the rescue and disaster relief troops.Also participating in the condolences were Deputy Chiefs Zhang Caiqian and Hu Wei of the General Staff, Deputy Director Huang Yukun of the General Political Department, Zhang Zhen, Deputy Director of the General Logistics Department, Wu Qingtong, Director of the State Council Office, Huang Zonghan, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Military Commission, Vice Minister Li Xuge of the General Staff Operations Department and other comrades. On the afternoon of the 4th, I went to the Hebei Provincial Committee and the units of the Shenyang Military Region to express condolences. I arrived at the front command center of the Beijing Military Region early in the morning on the 5th. Deputy Commander of the Military Region Xiao Xuanjin, and deputy political commissars Wan Haifeng and Chi Haotian have been directing the troops for earthquake relief at the front command. I visited and debriefed them. In the morning, I went to Tangshan Donggangyao Hospital, Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, and Kailuan Coal Mine, which were built with the help of Shanghai City, to express my condolences. In the afternoon, I went to the Beijing Military Region Army and a certain unit of the Air Force to express my condolences.

Let me tell you an episode: During the condolence process, a leading comrade who went with me kindly reminded me: Why didn't you mention "according to the established policies" in your condolence speech? I understand this comrade's intention. During my condolences, in my speeches and conversations, I did not mention "acting in accordance with the established policies." This is not an oversight. At that time, newspapers, magazines, radio, television and other public opinion outlets all talked about the so-called "dying instructions" of Chairman Mao to "follow the established policies." In fact, the phrase "according to the established policies" was tampered with by the "Gang of Four". Chairman Mao wrote to Comrade Hua Guofeng on April 30, 1976, "According to the past policies" and expressed it in the Politburo meeting. Communicated above. The "Gang of Four" tampered with Chairman Mao's instructions in order to usurp the leadership of the party and the country. At that time, it was inconvenient for me to disclose the internal situation of the Central Committee to this comrade. I just explained: We are here to express condolences to the earthquake relief troops.

At around 3 pm that day, Hua Guofeng called me from Beijing and asked me to return to Beijing as soon as possible. He said that " Guangming Daily " published an article and the situation was very urgent. He asked me to go back immediately to discuss the matter. After putting down the phone, I realized: The moment has come to determine the future and destiny of the party and the country. I asked Wu Qingtong: Can the people who went out to express condolences be found immediately? Wu Qingtong said: They have been scattered to various places, and I am afraid they will not be found for a while. I said: Don't wait for them, there is something going on in Beijing, we will go back immediately. Whether they return from heaven or from earth is up to them. After saying that, we hurried straight to the airport and took a flight to Beijing at 3:45 pm on the 5th.

Also participating in the condolences were Deputy Chiefs Zhang Caiqian and Hu Wei of the General Staff, Deputy Director Huang Yukun of the General Political Department, Zhang Zhen, Deputy Director of the General Logistics Department, Wu Qingtong, Director of the State Council Office, Huang Zonghan, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Military Commission, Vice Minister Li Xuge of the General Staff Operations Department and other comrades. On the afternoon of the 4th, I went to the Hebei Provincial Committee and the units of the Shenyang Military Region to express condolences. I arrived at the front command center of the Beijing Military Region early in the morning on the 5th. Deputy Commander of the Military Region Xiao Xuanjin, and deputy political commissars Wan Haifeng and Chi Haotian have been directing the troops for earthquake relief at the front command. I visited and debriefed them. In the morning, I went to Tangshan Donggangyao Hospital, Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, and Kailuan Coal Mine, which were built with the help of Shanghai City, to express my condolences. In the afternoon, I went to the Beijing Military Region Army and a certain unit of the Air Force to express my condolences.

Let me tell you an episode: During the condolence process, a leading comrade who went with me kindly reminded me: Why didn't you mention "according to the established policies" in your condolence speech? I understand this comrade's intention. During my condolences, in my speeches and conversations, I did not mention "acting in accordance with the established policies." This is not an oversight. At that time, newspapers, magazines, radio, television and other public opinion outlets all talked about the so-called "dying instructions" of Chairman Mao to "follow the established policies." In fact, the phrase "according to the established policies" was tampered with by the "Gang of Four". Chairman Mao wrote to Comrade Hua Guofeng on April 30, 1976, "According to the past policies" and expressed it in the Politburo meeting. Communicated above. The "Gang of Four" tampered with Chairman Mao's instructions in order to usurp the leadership of the party and the country. At that time, it was inconvenient for me to disclose the internal situation of the Central Committee to this comrade. I just explained: We are here to express condolences to the earthquake relief troops.

At around 3 pm that day, Hua Guofeng called me from Beijing and asked me to return to Beijing as soon as possible. He said that " Guangming Daily " published an article and the situation was very urgent. He asked me to go back immediately to discuss the matter. After putting down the phone, I realized: The moment has come to determine the future and destiny of the party and the country. I asked Wu Qingtong: Can the people who went out to express condolences be found immediately? Wu Qingtong said: They have been scattered to various places, and I am afraid they will not be found for a while. I said: Don't wait for them, there is something going on in Beijing, we will go back immediately. Whether they return from heaven or from earth is up to them. After saying that, we hurried straight to the airport and took a flight to Beijing at 3:45 pm on the 5th.