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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show for those who can never know enough about history.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Louzier, and today we're talking about one of

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Speaker 1: the deadliest natural disasters of the last hundred years, including

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Speaker 1: the reasons why you've probably never heard of it. The

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Speaker 1: day was December sixteenth, nine twenty At seven oh six

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Speaker 1: pm local time, a massive earthquake reeked havoc on the

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Speaker 1: isolated gand Sioux Province in north central China. The disaster

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Speaker 1: is generally known as the Hiuan earthquake after the location

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Speaker 1: of its epicenter, Hihuan County. The quake hit one of

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Speaker 1: the less populous areas of China, but its death toll

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Speaker 1: was exceptionally high. Nonetheless, the U S Geological Survey put

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Speaker 1: the number at two hundred thousand lives lost, but that's

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Speaker 1: a conservative estimate. A twenty ten Chinese study reported the

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Speaker 1: true number to be two hundred and seventy three thousand

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Speaker 1: lives lost, depending on which country's statistics you go by.

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Speaker 1: That makes the Hiouan quake either the first or the

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Speaker 1: second most deadly earthquake of the twentieth century, as well

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Speaker 1: as the third or fourth deadliest of all time. The

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Speaker 1: area surrounding Hiuen was characterized by vast deposits of something

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Speaker 1: called loess, the yellow wind blown sediment that gave the

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Speaker 1: Yellow River its name. This dry, loose soil made the

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Speaker 1: region vulnerable to earthquakes, and it didn't help that most

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Speaker 1: of the homes there were cave dwellings called yo dongs

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Speaker 1: that were dug out of the lowest deposits. These deposits

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Speaker 1: were hundreds of meters deep in some places, and under

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Speaker 1: seismic activity, the homes built into them were prone to collapse.

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Speaker 1: These factors are one reason why the death toll of

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Speaker 1: the Highwand earthquake exceeded that of quakes of similar intensity

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Speaker 1: that occurred in more populous areas. Hiuen was home to

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Speaker 1: only about a hundred and forty six thousand people, but

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Speaker 1: because of landslides and cave ins, nearly half of the

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Speaker 1: county's population was lost. The earthquake registered at the highest

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Speaker 1: level on the Mercali Intensity scale, which measures the observed

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Speaker 1: effects of an earthquake. As for its magnitude, accounts vary,

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Speaker 1: but most sources agree it's seismic waves were somewhere between

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Speaker 1: a seven point eight and an eight point five on

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Speaker 1: the Richter scale. Either way, the quake was powerful enough

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Speaker 1: to register on the equipment of nineties six different locations

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Speaker 1: around the world, and it's aftershocks were reportedly felt in

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Speaker 1: the region for the next three years. The damage from

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Speaker 1: the quake extended through an area of twenty thousand square

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Speaker 1: kilometers or nearly eight thousand miles. Dozens of villages near

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Speaker 1: the epicenter were completely destroyed. In fourteen counties, over seventy

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Speaker 1: of all structures had collapsed, and throughout the region, over

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Speaker 1: a million livestock animals were buried beneath debris. Because the

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Speaker 1: region's granaries had been toppled, and because most of the

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Speaker 1: sheep and cattle had been crushed, some of the initial

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Speaker 1: survivors starved to death in the weeks following the quake.

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Speaker 1: The disaster had occurred in the middle of winter, causing

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Speaker 1: many others to die from exposure to windstorms and heavy snowfall.

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Speaker 1: The grim situation was made even worse by frequent aftershocks,

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Speaker 1: which left many survivors fearful of building anything but the

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Speaker 1: most temporary of shelters. If that wasn't enough to contend with.

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Speaker 1: Survivors also had to navigate a changed environment riddled with

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Speaker 1: ground cracks, landslides, torn up roads, and damned rivers. These complications,

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Speaker 1: along with the general remoteness of the region, are another

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Speaker 1: reason why the death toll grew so high. It was

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Speaker 1: difficult for survivors to escape the ruined landscape, and it

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Speaker 1: was nearly just as hard for would be rescuers to

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Speaker 1: get through to those in need. The Chinese state and

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Speaker 1: the general public eventually mounted relief and reconstruction efforts to

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Speaker 1: help those most impacted by the quake. However, the aid

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Speaker 1: that was given had little effect on such wide spread suffering.

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Speaker 1: This ineffectiveness was largely due to timing. The Hiouan earthquake

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Speaker 1: had struck during a famine that was affecting tens of

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Speaker 1: millions of people in the North China plane. Most public

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Speaker 1: resources had been put into that crisis, leaving little support

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Speaker 1: left over for the survivors in Gansu. Given the extensive

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Speaker 1: damage and loss of life it caused, the Highouan earthquake

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Speaker 1: remains relatively unknown. This is partly because it struck a

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Speaker 1: rural location and not a major city, but more Crucially,

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Speaker 1: the quake took place during the early years of what

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Speaker 1: would become the Chinese Civil War. Those hostilities, as well

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Speaker 1: as the famine and other political crises of the day,

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Speaker 1: overshadowed what was ultimately one of the worst natural disasters

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Speaker 1: in human history. Today, China continues to be susceptible to

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Speaker 1: massive earthquakes, but thanks to the lessons of previous quakes

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Speaker 1: like the one in Haiouen, the country is much better

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Speaker 1: equipped to handle the fall out. The public is much

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Speaker 1: more aware of the earthquake risk, and seismic activity is

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Speaker 1: now factored into all construction, including underground dwellings, which are

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Speaker 1: still very much in use. I'm Gabe Louisier and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than

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Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with

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Speaker 1: the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and

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Speaker 1: Instagram at t D I HC Show. You can also

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Speaker 1: leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and you can

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Speaker 1: write to us at this Day at I heart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mace for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class. Yeah for

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