Qinglong County Administrators Issue Early Warning Four Days Before Earthquake

Meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee of Qinglong County

            Attending Members: Zhang Pingyi, Yu Shen, Chen Yongfu
                               Ma Gang

            Other Attendee:   Sun You

            Chairperson:       Zhang Pingyi

            Meeting date/time: July 24th, 1976; 8:30 PM 

            Minutes by:       Chai Wanhui

            Meeting place:    Small Conference Room at the County Committee

            Meeting Notes: 

                 Wang Chunqing, of the Science Committee, reports on 
            the main points of the earthquake conference. 

                 There may be, from July 22 to August 5, a magnitude 5
            earthquake, location is the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan-Bohai-
            Zhangjiakou region; from the second half of this year to the 
            beginning of next year, a magnitude 8-9 earthquake may occur.

                 Our County has a total of 16 monitoring sites, of which 
            6 sites are equipped with instruments.

                 The Earthquake Office should write up information on 
            earthquakes and send it to the broadcasting station for 
            dissemination. The Office should emphasize that there may 
            soon be an earthquake, and that its effects can be mitigated.

                 Pay attention to the following tasks: auditoriums, movie 
            theatres, and other places where people gather, should receive 
            special attention; also pass down instructions that each 
            monitoring station should report in a timely manner relevant 
            observations; people on duty must be on alert. Pay attention 
            to safety measures at schools.

                Assign people to special duty at the monitoring sites for 
            this period of time; the county Earthquake Office should 
            receive daily reports from these sites.

            1. Strengthen leadership at all levels to complete the tasks ahead.
            2. Promote dissemination of information and education on 
               earthquakes.
            3. Strengthen work at the monitoring sites and improve timely 
               communication and reporting.
                            
                Earthquake equipment should be placed in suitable air-raid 
            resistance shelters.
   
                Earthquake Office location: for now, in the previous office 
            space of the Science Committee; reestablish telephone 
            communications with overnight duty personnel.
                 

Text from Guidelines on Capacity Building for Disaster Management,
United Nations, New York, 1996

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