Jul 28 2009
Deadly Earthquake on this Day in 1976
Natural disasters abound throughout the world and can strike at any place and at any time. The most common disasters are those associated with hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and earthquakes. On this day in history, July 28, 1976, a strong earthquake struck in China.
The earthquake measured between 7.8 and 8.2 on the Richter scale, and it flattened Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with about one million people. An estimated 242,000 were killed, making the earthquake one of the deadliest in recorded history, surpassed only by the 300,000 who died in the 1737 Calcutta earthquake and the 830,000 thought to have perished in the 1556 China’s Shaanxi province quake. We will review what causes earthquakes in a future post. Information for today’s post from the History Channel archives.
