Residents describe Sunday's quake, recount memories of 1976 tragedy

The 43-year-old, who grew up in Luannan county, Tangshan, was born in 1977, the year after the devastating quake 44 years ago.

"Although I didn't experience it, for me, it is an incident that will never disappear, just as it is to all other Tangshan residents," he said.

He added that he has heard numerous stories of how people died in the quake and how others survived. "All Tangshan people are heroes," he said.

Wang Tong said he was relieved that although Sunday's quake was of a relatively severe magnitude, no casualties had been reported.

Jia Hongpu, head of the Emergency Rescue Department at the Hebei Earthquake Agency, said, "People in Tangshan do not panic that easily when quakes hit, because they have experienced many small jolts since 1976."

Since that year, solidly constructed homes have been built in Tangshan and people have been told how to escape in a quake, Jia added.

Zhang Xin, a 20-year-old resident of Fengnan district, which neighbors Guye, said, "My bed was pushed up against a wall for several seconds on Sunday and bottles on a table shook violently, but this was only a small quake."

Tang Linglin, a catering worker on a train operating between Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and Qinhuangdao, Hebei, which stops in Tangshan, said he heard of Sunday's quake when the train was traveling from Qinhuangdao to Chengdu in the morning and was halted for several hours.

"I hope nothing bad happened," Tang said on Sunday night after hearing that some of the passengers were heading to Tangshan for disaster relief work.

He added that when it comes to earthquakes, Tangshan and Sichuan are "like brothers and sisters", as Wenchuan, Sichuan, experienced a devastating earthquake in 2008, which claimed more than 69,000 lives.

Having experienced frequent light tremors, Tang said people in both areas must be given more instruction about earthquakes.

As of Sunday night, 50 aftershocks had followed the morning quake. Forty-six of them were less than 1 magnitude, two were between 1 and 1.9 magnitude and the remaining two between 2 and 2.9, according to the Hebei provincial earthquake agency.

No casualties had been reported as of noon on Monday, the agency said, adding that thorough checks had been made in the epicenter and areas within a 300-kilometer radius.

"We often hope for the best while preparing for the worst," Tang said.