ABSTRACT
Apart from floods, Tianjin has a long history of earthquakes. Tianjin City authorities were aware of the danger of a major earthquake hitting the region one day. The disaster known as the Great Tangshan Earthquake began on 28 July. Right after the earthquake, the Public Utilities Bureau held its emergency meeting and ordered inspections of its facilities. On 4 August, the City Party Committee meeting decided that medical personnel had to establish a presence in the evacuation camps to carry out hygiene work there. In this meeting, the City Party Committee also ordered damaged buildings to be inspected and those that could be repaired had to be. In late May 1976 the CEO published the 'Preliminary Plan on Earthquake Disaster Conditions and Resisting and Protecting against Earthquakes'. An immediate risk in a major disaster is losing public order. Tianjin was also affected by this, and maintaining public order was therefore high on the City Party Committee's agenda.
