The Deadly Tangshan Earthquake of 1976

At 3:42 a.m. on July 28, 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the sleeping city of Tangshan, in northeastern China. The very large earthquake, striking an area where it was totally unexpected, obliterated the city of Tangshan and killed more than 240,000 people—making it the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century. Fireballs and Animals Give Warning Though scientific earthquake prediction is in its nascent stages, nature often gives some advance warning of an impending earthquake. In a village outside of Tangshan, well water reportedly rose and fell three times the day before the earthquake. In another village, gas began to spout out the water well on July 12 and then increased on July 25 and 26. Other wells throughout the area showed signs of cracking. Animals also gave a warning that something was about to happen. One thousand chickens in Baiguantuan refused to eat and ran around excitedly chirping. Mice and yellow weasels were seen running around looking for a place to hide. In one household in the city of Tangshan, a goldfish began jumping wildly in its bowl. At 2 a.m. on July 28, shortly before the earthquake struck, the goldfish jumped out of its bowl. Once its owner had returned him to his bowl, the goldfish continued to jump out of its bowl until the earthquake hit. Strange? Indeed. These were isolated incidents, spread across a city of a million people and a countryside scattered with villages. But nature gave additional warnings. During the night preceding the earthquake, many people reported seeing strange lights as well as loud sounds. The lights were seen in a multitude of hues. Some people saw flashes of light; others witnessed fireballs flying across the sky. Loud, roaring noises followed the lights and fireballs. Workers at the Tangshan airport described the noises as louder than that of an airplane. The Earthquake Strikes When the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Tangshan, more than 1 million people were sleeping, unaware of the impending disaster. As the earth began to shake, a few people who were awake had the forethought to dive under a table or other heavy piece of furniture, but most were asleep and did not have time. The entire earthquake lasted approximately 14 to 16 seconds. Once the quake was over, the people who could scrambled out into the open, only to see the entire city leveled. After an initial period of shock, the survivors began to dig through debris to answer the muffled calls for help as well as find loved ones still under rubble. As injured people were saved from under the rubble, they were lain on the side of the road. Many of the medical personnel were also trapped under debris or killed by the earthquake. The medical centers were destroyed, as were the roads to get there. Aftermath Survivors were faced with not having water, food, or electricity. All but one of the roads into Tangshan was impassible. Unfortunately, relief workers accidentally clogged the one remaining road, leaving them and their supplies stuck for hours in the traffic jam. People needed help immediately; survivors could not wait for help to arrive, so they formed groups to dig for others. They set up medical areas where emergency procedures were conducted with the minimum of supplies. They searched for food and set up temporary shelters. Though 80% of the people trapped under rubble were saved, a 7.1 magnitude aftershock that hit on the afternoon of July 28 sealed the fate for many who had been waiting under the rubble for help. After the earthquake hit, 242,419 people lay dead or dying, along with another 164,581 people who were severely injured. In 7,218 households, all members of the family were killed by the earthquake. Many experts have since suggested that the official loss of life was underestimated, that it is likely that closer to 700,000 people died. Corpses were buried quickly, usually close to the residences in which they perished. This later caused health problems, especially after it rained and the bodies were again exposed. Workers had to find these impromptu graves, dig up the bodies, and then move and rebury the corpses outside of the city. Damage and Recovery Before the 1976 earthquake, scientists didnt think Tangshan was susceptible to a large earthquake; thus, the area was zoned an intensity level of VI on the Chinese intensity scale (similar to the Mercalli scale). The 7.8 earthquake that hit Tangshan was given an intensity level of XI (out of XII). The buildings in Tangshan were not built to withstand such a large earthquake. Ninety-three percent of residential buildings and 78% of industrial buildings were completely destroyed. Eighty percent of the water pumping stations were seriously damaged and the water pipes were damaged throughout the city. Fourteen percent of the sewage pipes were severely damaged. The foundations of bridges gave way, causing the bridges to collapse. Railroad lines bent. Roads were covered with debris and were riddled with fissures. With so much damage, recovery was not easy. Food was a high priority. Some food was parachuted in, but the distribution was uneven. Water, even just for drinking, was extremely scarce. Many people drank out of pools or other locations that had become contaminated during the earthquake. Relief workers eventually got water trucks and others to transport clean drinking water into the affected areas. Political Perspective In August 1976, Chinese leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was dying and his Cultural Revolution was eroding in power. Some scholars believe that the Tangshan earthquake contributed to its downfall. Although science had taken a backseat in the Cultural Revolution since in its inception in 1966, seismology had become a new focus of research in China out of necessity. Between 1970 and 1976, the Chinese government reported predicting nine earthquakes. There was no such warning for Tangshan. The Mandate of Heaven is a long-established Han tradition that attributes unusual or freakish occurrences in the natural world such as comets, droughts, locusts, and earthquakes to a sign that the (divinely chosen) leadership is incompetent or undeserving. Recognizing that, in the wake of the successful earthquake predictions at Haicheng the previous year, Maos government touted its ability to predict and then respond to natural disasters. Tangshan was not predicted, and the size of the disaster made the response slow and difficult—a process significantly hindered by Maos complete rejection of foreign aid. Rebuild and Recent Research After the emergency care was given, the rebuilding of Tangshan began almost immediately. Though it took time, the entire city was rebuilt and is again home to over 1 million people, earning Tangshan the nickname Brave City of China. In the succeeding decades, the experiences of Tangshan have been used to improve earthquake predicting capabilities and the provision of medical support in major disasters. Additional research has also been focused on anomalous animal behaviors ahead of earthquakes, which have been widely documented. Sources and Further Reading Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Everything, 1999. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 1998.Jin, Anshu, and Keiiti Aki. Temporal Change in Coda Q before the Tangshan Earthquake of 1976 and the Haicheng Earthquake of 1975. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 91.B1 (1986): 665–73.Palmer, James. Heaven Cracks, Earth Shakes: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Death of Mao. New York: Basic Books, 2012.  Ross, Lester. Earthquake Policy in China. Asian Survey 24.7 (1984): 773-–87.Sheng, Z. Y. Medical Support in the Tangshan Earthquake: A Review of the Management of Mass Casualties and Certain Major Injuries. The Journal of Trauma 27.10 (1987): 1130–35.Wang Jing-Ming and Joe J. Litehiser. The Distribution of Earthquake Damage to Underground Facilities During the 1976 Tang-Shan Earthquake. Earthquake Spectra 1.4 (1985):741–57.Wang, Jun, Juan Yang, and Bo Li. Pain of Disasters: The Educational Cost of Exogenous Shocks Evidence from Tangshan Earthquake in 1976. China E conomic Review 46 (2017): 27–49.Yong, Chen, et al. The Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976: An Anatomy of Disaster. New York: Pergamon Press, 1988.

My Philosophy on Teaching Literature Essay - 1168 Words

My Philosophy in Teaching Literature I believe all children can learn to read in a classroom that is integrated with differentiated instruction and has a safe and engaging learning environment which is rich with a variety of literature to light that spark in the children to want to learn. I will make an effort to get to know my children in order to be able to provide a classroom library with nonfiction books to inform the inquiring mind, picture books for the artistic mind, and fiction books to entertain. All books will be chosen based on their curiosity, interest, personal connection, and learning profile, in order to attract and enchant the young readers into going back to the book area again and again. I am looking forward to having†¦show more content†¦The poem can be used in a lot of ways to implement other language arts activities but the highlight of this activity is coming up with silly or fun body movements to accompany the choral reading of the poem. Doing the body movements creates lots of laughter and giggling. The fun, being silly, and the laughter, relaxes the children, helping to being more receptive to soaking in new information. This also lights a spark in the students to learn the moves and memorize the poem so that they can share it with the family. I have seen students, who were struggling in memorizing the poem, asking a classmate to help them practice the poem and every day, during recess, the student would practice under the classmate’s watchful eye, making sure the poem was memorized correctly, so that the student can share it with the family. Seeing that, I realized that the poem is not only a wonderful introduction to literature and the language arts, but that it is also a very powerful connection to their parents, strong enough to motivate a child to forego recess and practice memorizing. Another favorite activity is picking a story that the whole class enjoyed very much during shared reading and performing a small part out of that story using very simple props that are easily available in the classroom. We will do this activity every three weeks or so. I will have literature circles, guided reading, and independent reading. We will have discussions as a class,Show MoreRelated My Philosophy of Teaching Essay examples1229 Words   |  5 Pages Philosophy of Education Our convictions border every aspect of our lives from the monumental to the minute; for example, we possess a complex system of thought governing how we function as moral members of an often amoral society, and we utilize an equally complex system concerning our devotion to a favorite television show. However, the process of actualizing a philosophy is daunting. We rarely externalize our beliefs. Why? 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What Is Modern Technology Provide to Us Free Essays

What is Modern Technology Provide to Us? â€Å"Technology begins with human nature,† this is a slogan what I believe. There is one question always appear in my mind, what does modern technology bring us? Since development of modern technology, more and more inventions appear. Modern technology was designed to meet human needs, and for convenience. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Modern Technology Provide to Us or any similar topic only for you Order Now It cannot be denied that modern technology makes our life more convenient; however, modern technologies still bring greater inconvenience than convenience. Complex method of operation is one of the biggest problems when using the modern technology; for example: a millionaire bought a car from Europe to show his wealth, everyone could drive it easily by pushing several buttons because this car was full automatic with its artificial intelligence. But the system setting was very complicated before you started it. Once, this millionaire pushed the wrong buttons and then the car could not move. Then, he had to invite the professional engineer from Europe to help him solved this problem. After that, he decided not to use those buttons to avoid any problem and troubles. Let’s take the invention of cars as another example, its invention is supposed to enable us to travel faster and is more convenient. But, what happens now? The traffic jams for hours, pollutions appear, every time when I see the traffic jams in any city during the rush hour, I feel that I am so lucky because I don’t have a car. We don’t even know exactly how much time we have to spend or waste on our car. That is the reason why I choose to take populace transportation vehicle. To compare radio and cable, radio can provide news, entertainment or even advertisement as cable does. There is no doubt that cable plays an important role in our lives; however, cable brings numerous negative things as well. Cables transmit more violence and pornography than before. It might affect our new generation. On the other hand, radio still occupies an important role in our life. Most of people don’t really have time to watch the news on television, but they will still listen to the radio have they are driving or so. Modern technologies bring inconvenience because it doesn’t really fit in what we need in our life. Let’s take the most popular invention: cell phone as another example. Nowadays, cell phones become smaller and lighter. Cell phone seems very convenience to us. Nevertheless, this kind of design is not suitable for some of us. Such as the button are too small for senior citizen to click, too expensive to fix. Personally, I am always looking for my cell phone because my cell phone is too small for me. What does modern technology really bring to us? One of my teachers told us that the richest people will get richer and richer. But we are getting poor. It is because those producers are sucking our money because we are buying their new invention. Personally, I strongly believe we should consider if the newest technology can really provide the convenience to us when we try to develop them, or they will only become a trouble for us. Now, I am also thinking about another question: â€Å"If my laptop break down right now and this essay suddenly disappear, how will I feel and what should I do? † How to cite What Is Modern Technology Provide to Us, Essays

Goods and Services Tax

Question: Discuss about theGoods and Services Tax. Answer: Introduction In New Zealand, a VAT type tax was first introduced in the budget of 1984. The legislation of the Goods and Services Tax 1985 got assent and was implemented on 3 December 1985. The section 8-1 of the GSTA 1985 states that GST of 15% is added to the most of goods and services that are supplied in New Zealand by the registered person in ordinary course of their taxable activity. In section 6 of the act, it is that any activity that is carried on continuously and regularly by a person for a payment is known as taxable activities (Kelsey, 2015). The taxable activity do not include working for salary or wages, hobbies, selling private items and making supplies of GST exempted items. The GST charged by the supplier on the goods or services provided is referred to as the output tax. This output tax represents the amount of tax that has been collected on sales and is required with the revenue department. The registered suppliers acquiring the goods or services are eligible for input tax credit on the GST paid as per section 3A of the GSTA 1985 (Thornton, 2013). This input tax represents the amount of tax that has been paid by the supplier for acquiring the goods or services. Therefore, in case of GST registered supplier if the output tax charged exceeds the input tax incurred then in such case the registered person is required to pay the excess to the Inland Revenue department. On the other hand, if the input tax paid is more than the output tax charged then in such cases the tax authority refunds the excess GST paid. The GST is charged on taxable supply and the classifications for the purpose of GST are zero rated supplies, exempted supplies and mixed supply. In case of zero-rated supply, the tax rate for the goods supplied is zero. The zero tax rates are primarily applicable for exported goods and services. The zero rates are also applicable in case of supplies of a going concern. The other classification of GST is exempted supplies and there are two categories of exempted supplies. The first category of exempted supply is financial transactions and the second category for exempted supply is residential accommodation (Claus, 2014). The last classification for GST is mixed supply where there are many supplies that are both taxable and exempted. In this situation tax is charged only to the extent of taxable supply and the input tax credit is allowed only for the portion of taxable supply. In case of mixed supply the input tax claim is required to be apportioned between taxable supply and exempted supply. The apportionment should be made on a basis that is justified and reasonable after considering the expenditure involved. The supplier carrying on taxable activity is required to register for GST as per section 51 of the Goods and services tax act 1986. It is also important to note that if the suppliers are not GST then the supplier is not eligible for input tax credit. If the turnover of the supplier is $60000.00 or more in the last twelve-month or it is expected that turnover will exceed $60000.00 in the next twelve month then in such cases the supplier is required to be registered under GST act (Gupta Sawyer, 2015). If these conditions are fulfilled then the supplier is required to register within 21 days for the GST. If these conditions are not satisfied then the supplier is not required to register for GST. On the other hand, if the turnover does not cross the required limit then the supplier is not required to register for GST but can voluntarily choose to register for GST. In order to register for GST IRD number is required, Business identification code is required, the taxpayer should choose fo r the taxable period and accounting basis. After all this requirements are fulfilled then the supplier can register for GST. The section 52 of the GSTA 1986 deals with the provisions relating to the cancellation of registration (James, 2015). If the suppliers stop the taxable activity and starts another taxable activity then the supplier is required to cancel the registration within 21days. The registration can also be cancelled if the turnover falls below $60000.00. The process of cancellation of registration depends on the number of process of filing return followed by the supplier. If the supplier files return online then the registration can be cancelled by filling a final GST return online. If the GST return is submitted in paper then the registration can be cancelled by sending a letter of cancellation to the department. In order to calculate GST the first step is to calculate sales, income, purchase and expenses. If the payment basis is followed for calculating the sales or income then all the payment received from the customers are added for the purpose of the tax. If the taxpayer follows the hybrid basis then the entire invoice raised during the period is added for calculating the sales or income. Then the GST that has been collected from the sales that is output tax is calculated. The purchase and expenses is also calculated by adding all the payment made during the year if the payment-received method is followed. In case of invoice method, the invoices raised by the suppliers are added to calculate the purchase or expenses. The GST that is paid for this supplies are the input tax. The formula for calculating the GST is relatively simple in New Zealand. The GST calculation is relative to the base and the base is the original figure. In case of adding the GST then the formula is : =Base+ (Base*GST) For example if an item of $100.00 is sold excluding GST then the price of the item including GST is calculated as follows: =100+(100*15%) =$115.00. In case of calculating the GST content of a GST inclusive price the calculation is as follows: = (Base *3)/23 The calculation of GST content for an item $100.00 is calculated as follows = (100*3)/23 =$13.04. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand has issued FRS19 Accounting for goods and service tax. In Para 5.1 of the FRS 19 it is stated that an entity is required to account for by stating the expenses and revenue item net of GST. In case of irrecoverable GST input the Para 5.6 states that GST should be part of the expenses or assets (Sawyer, 2014). In Para 5.9 it is stated that the entity should prepare the cash flow either inclusive or exclusive of GST on a basis that is consistent with the statement of financial performance. GST with a single tax rate is the pure form of VAT that has minimum exemptions. The GST was introduced in New Zealand at a time when the economic activity was at its peak and the public accepted taxation reform (Millar, 2013). The consultation process helped the tax to be easily understandable among the public. The Goods and Services tax continues to be very success from its implementation. Reference Claus, I. (2014). GST Compliance in the New Zealand Property Sector.Fiscal Studies,35(2), 225-240. Gupta, R., Sawyer, A. J. (2015, November). The costs of compliance and associated benefits for small and medium enterprises in New Zealand: Some recent findings. InAustralian Tax Forum(Vol. 30). James, C. (2015).New territory: the transformation of New Zealand, 198492. Bridget Williams Books. Kelsey, J. (2015).Reclaiming the future: New Zealand and the global economy. Bridget Williams Books. Kelsey, J. (2015).The New Zealand experiment: A world model for structural adjustment?. Bridget Williams Books. Millar, R. (2013). Smoke and Mirrors: Applying the Full Taxation Model to Government Under the Australian and New Zealand GST Laws.VAT Exemptions: Consequences and Alternatives, Rita de la Feria, ed., Kluwer Law: The Hague. Sawyer, A. J. (2014). GST Reform: Can New Zealand Offer Constructive Guidance to Inform the Australian Debate?. Thornton, A. (2013). Coin rotation task. The development of norms for New Zealand and the United States.