Strange things were happening in the  51 in northeast Hebei Province. For three days the   52  in the village wells rose and fell. Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep  53  in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. In the farmyards, the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to eat. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide. Fish jumped out of ponds. People saw bright lights in the sky. The sound of planes could be heard outside Tangshan even when no  54  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 thought little of these events, went to bed  55  that night.
At 3:42 am everything began to  56 . It seemed that the world was at an end! Eleven kilometers directly below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th century  57 . It was heard in Beijing, which is one hundred kilometers away. One-third of the nation felt it. A huge crack that was eight kilometers long and thirty meters   58  cut across houses, roads and canals. Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen   59  seconds a large city lay in ruins. Two-thirds of the people died or were injured during the   60 . Thousands of families were killed and many children were left without parents. The   61  of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000.
But how could the   62  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 leaves. No wind, however, could blow them away. Two dams fell and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for   63 . The railway tracks were now useless pieces of   64 . Tens of thousands of cows would never give   65  again. Half a million pigs and millions of chickens had died. Sand now filled the wells instead of water. People were   66 . Then, later that afternoon, another big quake shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins. More buildings fell down. Water, food, and electricity were   67  to get. People began to wonder how long the disaster would last.
All hope was not lost. The army sent 150,000   68  to Tangshan to help the rescue workers. Hundreds of thousands of people were   69 . 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 coalmines. Workers built shelters for survivors whose homes had been destroyed. Fresh water was taken to the city by train, truck and plane. Slowly, the city began to   70  again.

Strange things were happening in the  51 in northeast Hebei Province. For three days the   52  in the village wells rose and fell. Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep  53  in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. In the farmyards, the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to eat. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide. Fish jumped out of ponds. People saw bright lights in the sky. The sound of planes could be heard outside Tangshan even when no  54  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 thought little of these events, went to bed  55  that night.

At 3:42 am everything began to  56 . It seemed that the world was at an end! Eleven kilometers directly below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th century  57 . It was heard in Beijing, which is one hundred kilometers away. One-third of the nation felt it. A huge crack that was eight kilometers long and thirty meters   58  cut across houses, roads and canals. Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen   59  seconds a large city lay in ruins. Two-thirds of the people died or were injured during the   60 . Thousands of families were killed and many children were left without parents. The   61  of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000.

But how could the   62  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 leaves. No wind, however, could blow them away. Two dams fell and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for   63 . The railway tracks were now useless pieces of   64 . Tens of thousands of cows would never give   65  again. Half a million pigs and millions of chickens had died. Sand now filled the wells instead of water. People were   66 . Then, later that afternoon, another big quake shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins. More buildings fell down. Water, food, and electricity were   67  to get. People began to wonder how long the disaster would last.

All hope was not lost. The army sent 150,000   68  to Tangshan to help the rescue workers. Hundreds of thousands of people were   69 . 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 coalmines. Workers built shelters for survivors whose homes had been destroyed. Fresh water was taken to the city by train, truck and plane. Slowly, the city began to   70  again.