Four Days, Four Nights: Nine Lives in the Tangshan Earthquake

Author: Li Runping / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: "The corner of death" fluid was finished, and I was wondering what to do when that soldier with a few others squeezed into the surgical shed. He carefully pulled down my undershirt and then picked up the blanket that had been with me since I came out of the ruins, gently covering my upper body. He lifted the edge of the shed and carried me out. I immediately felt the chill, and it was another early morning. A gentle breeze was blowing, and it was still drizzling.
"Classmate, where are we going?" a soldier asked the military officer who had entered the surgical shed with me. He turned out to be a class leader. He looked up at the sky and then at the rows of people around the surgical shed, saying, "Take him further away, find a place to shelter from the rain." Now I finally looked around: there were people everywhere—some sitting, some lying down, some still getting rained on, some covered with plastic sheets, and some had even set up small tents. The class leader walked in front, pausing step by step. He kept shouting, "Comrades, please make way! Be careful, avoid stepping on anything!" When they reached an area too narrow to pass, they placed the bed frame on their knees and waited for a while. It was only about thirty meters, but it took more than half an hour. This made me imagine how difficult it must have been to carry me in.
I wanted to ask if they had carried me in, but they didn’t even spare a thought for that. It was actually unnecessary. The class leader had been by my side during the surgery. If it wasn’t them who carried me in, who else could it have been? Perhaps considering safety, they didn’t place me under any building but instead in a corner with a short wall. There were already some people lying there in a disorganized manner, not many, and they might all have fallen asleep, the place was very quiet. After placing me down, the class leader signaled the soldier in the raincoat to take it off and cover me with it. He told me to hold on and that he would come to see me the next day.
Perhaps because I was far from the crowd, and it was late at night, the hustle and bustle of the day had faded away, and the silence settled in, a silence that was lonely and frightening. The life-threatening internal injuries had been addressed, and I felt a sense of relief. Although the swelling in my legs was getting worse, and the pain caused by the swelling was becoming more intense, at least the threat of death had been lifted. The drizzle washed away the haze in the air, leaving behind a coolness. Although it was damp, the confusion had disappeared.
I closed my eyes but couldn’t sleep. My mind replayed the events of the day like a movie. First, I felt unlucky—I was from a place hundreds of miles away but happened to be in the Tangshan earthquake, severely injured, and nearly lost my life. Then, I felt fortunate, and even the luckiest of all, that my body had suffered such severe injuries and I had completely lost the ability to help myself. Yet so many kind people had given me timely aid, allowing me to survive against all odds. It was nothing short of a miracle. How could I say I wasn’t lucky?
I thought about tomorrow, knowing it would be a sunny day. After a whole day had passed, the earthquake situation in the earthquake must have been clear to the Central Committee and the State Council. Would other places have also been hit? I thought not. China was so vast, how could it all be hit by an earthquake? I remembered what my high school political teacher had told us about the strategy of encircling the enemy and guerrilla warfare. China was a large country, with high mountains and deep valleys, rivers and lakes, vast lands, and dense forests. Therefore, even when facing great difficulties, there was still hope for the Chinese revolution. As the saying goes, "If the east is not bright, the west will be; if the south is dark, the north will shine." The earthquake was no different. As long as Beijing was safe, the rescue efforts in Tangshan would not be a problem. Chairman Mao and the Central Committee would send more forces to rescue Tangshan, and I would surely recover.
As I thought, I gradually drifted into a dream: I dreamed of going home, seeing my mother, and I was back to being a child, hugging her and telling her about everything that had happened in Tangshan, about my misfortunes and blessings. I ran along the clear and bright Sha River toward the Jieshi Mountain, feeling free again. I was overjoyed, and I desperately wished that dream would come true. But the pain still disrupted my sweet dreams. I felt an intense itch and throbbing pain in my legs. I wanted to scratch them, but when I looked up, I was startled: both legs were swollen as thick as my waist, as if they might burst if I exerted any force. I stopped.
By now, it was already bright. Indeed, it was a good day. The sky was a deep blue, with no clouds. My mood improved. I turned my head and looked at the people on both sides of me—about eight of them were still sleeping. In the distance, there was already a lot of noise, injured people struggling against their pain, while the uninjured were busy with survival. I silently admired the power of human beings—whether strong or disabled, as long as there were people, vitality and life would emerge. I really wanted to talk to someone, so I stretched out my right hand and gently pulled the hand of an elderly man lying next to me, whispering, "Uncle, are you awake?" He didn’t react at all. I pulled him again, but still no response. I turned my head to the person on the left and called out, "Master, are you awake? It’s morning!" He didn’t answer either. No one paid attention to me, so I looked further away: a vast open space filled with all kinds of people, and many tents had been set up. Many of them were not injured but had come to care for their relatives. Some had even come to escape from the airport.
I noticed that right where I had been lying the day before, in front of the row of single-story houses, soldiers had set up two large military pots. They were busy—some were tending the fire, some stirring the pots, and some serving porridge. Many people gathered around. I licked my dry lips with my tongue, and a desire to eat arose in my heart. I knew it was a. I turned my head again and tried to call the old man again, but when I grabbed his hand, he still didn’t move. I felt something was wrong. At the same time, I noticed his hand was very cold. I realized he had "passed away."
"Don’t call him anymore. He’s already gone." A girl’s voice, choked with sobs, came over. Following the sound, I saw a young woman in a white police uniform, accompanied by several people, carrying a makeshift stretcher made of rope and sticks. She covered the old man’s face with a towel, as if afraid of waking him, and gently lifted his head. Together with the others, she placed him on the stretcher. She signaled them to leave first and then crouched down to ask me, "Is it just you here? Do you have anyone else in your family?" I nodded first, then told her I was from another county, studying in Tangshan, and didn’t know anyone in my family, nor did I know what was happening there.
"You can’t stay here. This is a place full of the dead. You need to go to the other side," she said calmly, as if she were speaking to someone who was half-dead among the dead. "There are more people there, and it’s better to have someone to look out for you." Saying that, she stretched out the edge of the bed, as if she wanted to drag me out herself. But she quickly realized it was impossible because I couldn’t move at all. She looked far away, searching for someone who could help. Then she simply sat down, as if comforting me and herself, and whispered softly, "Beijing knows about the Tangshan earthquake. Chairman Mao and the Central Committee know about it too. I heard they sent a message of comfort yesterday. They said the earthquake was very severe, not only Tangshan was affected but Tianjin and Beijing too. However, Tangshan was the epicenter, with heavy casualties, and Fengnan was also badly hit."
"Fengnan? That’s Fengnan near the Party School?" I asked, sensitive to the name. She nodded, "That’s Fengnan, just as bad as Tangshan. Your Party School is right between Tangshan and Fengnan, so you could say it’s at the epicenter of the epicenter! People who came from that side said all the buildings collapsed. The new large factory in Nan Factory, which was recently built, collapsed completely. Jiāngxīng Road cracked, and the big trees even moved! In that area, you could survive, and that’s really lucky."
She was right. Although I didn’t see the trees move, I had experienced buildings collapsing and seen water and sand gushing from the ground. The scene was also terrifying—holes suddenly appeared in the flat ground, with water mixed with yellow sand spraying out, and an overwhelming sense of impending disaster filled me.
"This should be better now. As long as Beijing is safe, we won’t have to worry. They already sent a lot of soldiers yesterday, including troops from Beijing and Shenyang. Medical teams have also arrived in several batches. A command post has been set up at the airport, and planes can take off and land. Just wait. Help will arrive soon!" She said this with a clear change in her emotions—she had gained confidence and hope. Naturally, I was infected by her. I guessed her identity—she might be a police officer, but she seemed too young. From her attire, she was indeed a police officer. Her face was very pale, a mix of exhaustion and natural whiteness. Her eyes were red and swollen, showing that she too had suffered the pain of losing loved ones. Her words were inspiring, and her voice was comforting.
"You’re waiting for me to call for help," she said. Shortly after, she indeed brought over a dozen people, some of whom had been there before. She called out and had them carry me out. She instructed a tall man in front, "Put him in a place where there are more people, so someone will take care of him. It’s best if it’s near the medical team." Then, she pulled the edge of the blanket and whispered softly, "Let’s go!" She didn’t leave immediately but turned back to call the others to help settle the people who had passed away with me the night before.
From the conversation of the people carrying me, I learned that she was indeed a female police officer. She had been on duty during the earthquake and hadn’t even gone home after it. She had been working at her post the whole time. The old man she carried away was her father. She didn’t know if he was still alive after the earthquake!
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