Meng Changlong and Zhao Xingguo were busy directing the villagers and soldiers, sweating profusely. The two sides were also exchanging useful information with each other, especially Zhao Xingguo. As the village chief of Wanxi Village, he was under a lot of pressure.
Previously, the villagers wanted to call their superiors to report, but the cell phones had no signal. They sent people to contact the people in charge in the town, hoping to find someone to help. However, those who went to the county town to find help and went to the hospital to search for medicines and doctors have not returned yet!
Zhao Xingguo was extremely anxious. If it weren't for the mess in the village, which would have been impossible without him and Zhao Zhengde, he would have wanted to go to the town himself to look for people!
However, the two of them had to stay in the village and direct the villagers to save themselves.
If it weren't for the organization of the two of them, the people in this village would probably become a mess.
But precisely because of this, although the rescue work in Wanxi Village was done quite well, the village was cut off from the outside world. Zhao Xingguo did not know how big the earthquake was, how many casualties it had caused, and what the situation was like in other places.
Thinking that Commander Meng had a communication device in his hand, he must know a lot about the outside world. So Zhao Xingguo hurriedly asked Meng Changlong about the scope of the earthquake.
Talking about the earthquake, Meng Changlong frowned and his face became very ugly.
Zhao Xingguo was frightened by Meng Changlong's ugly face, and his whole expression became nervous. His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by someone, and even his breathing was slightly stagnant. He frowned and looked at Meng Changlong waiting for his answer.
"This earthquake affected a wide area. As far as I know, there were 58 places in China, large and small, where strong earthquakes occurred simultaneously. Our place was one of them. I don't know the specific details, as there is no detailed description above." Meng Changlong sighed deeply and spoke after a while.
Because of the earthquake, all the signal towers in the Yunhai City area were destroyed. Everyone’s mobile phones had no signal, so they had no way to contact the outside world and had no idea of the specific situation.
Meng Changlong has a communicator equipped by the military in his hand. These communicators do not require the use of signal towers, so Meng Changlong knows much more than others. It is precisely because of this that Meng Changlong's face looks so ugly.
He had no intention of hiding this from others.
Moreover, these things cannot be concealed. After a few days, even if the villagers in Wanxi Village do not want to know the situation, they will learn the news from other channels.
"5, 58 places?!"
Zhao Xingguo was shocked by this number. He was so stunned that he could hardly close his mouth!
He originally thought that the earthquake only occurred in their area, but he did not expect that earthquakes would occur simultaneously in 58 places across the country!
"What's going on? How could earthquakes occur in so many places at the same time?... This doesn't conform to the law of earthquake eruption!" Although Zhao Xingguo did not read much, he was a high school graduate after all and knew some common sense.
It is really hard to accept that earthquakes occurred in fifty-eight places at the same time.
"I also find it a little unbelievable, but as far as I know, it is indeed true..."
Meng Changlong and several soldiers worked together to move a stone slab. The dust kicked up directly covered his head and face. Meng Chenglong said, "Otherwise, within five or six hours, more or less, people from other provinces should have arrived here to provide rescue."
"Within 15 hours of the Sichuan earthquake, experts and rescue teams from all over the country arrived in the disaster area across the province to carry out rescue work..."
"Our Yunhai City isn't too far from several cities in the neighboring province, and transportation is much more developed than in the mountainous area where the Sichuan earthquake occurred... But you see, apart from our group, no one else has come to rescue us."
With every word Meng Changlong said, Zhao Xingguo's face became uglier. He felt that what Meng Changlong said made a lot of sense.
Their country's disaster rescue capabilities and response speed have always been world-class.
But now, so much time has passed since the earthquake, and they have not seen even a helicopter or drone coming to investigate the situation!
Zhao Xingguo's heart sank and his expression became even uglier.
Meng Changlong looked at Zhao Xingguo's ugly face and sighed helplessly in his heart.
In fact, Meng Changlong hadn't said anything more...
When he first received the message from above, they hadn't even mentioned sending anyone else to help. They simply told them to help nearby victims first. If there were too few rescuers and too many injured, they could send a message and work together to find a solution. However, this call should be avoided if possible. There was no way for the higher-ups to send more manpower here.
The other party told him that according to earthquake monitoring, three major cities in the country were hit by a magnitude 8 earthquake at the same time! These three cities were Li'an City, next to Yunhai City, Changyuan City in the southeast of China, and Henghua City in the north of China!
Especially in the Himalayas, there were places where strong earthquakes of magnitude 9 or above occurred!
Fortunately, the area where the magnitude 9 earthquake struck was an uninhabited area, otherwise the entire area would have become a forbidden zone of death. But even so, the once beautiful place was reduced to ruins.
With so many earthquakes occurring simultaneously, there was simply no way to dispatch more manpower to this remote village for rescue.
What's more, compared with the magnitude 8 earthquake in the neighboring city, the intensity of the earthquake here can only be regarded as an appetizer among earthquakes across the country.
These three major cities that were hit by magnitude 8 earthquakes at the same time are all famous cities with large populations throughout China!
Meng Changlong could almost imagine the tragic situation of these three cities at this moment. The energy released by a magnitude 6 earthquake was equivalent to the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion in the last century, and the energy released by an magnitude 8 earthquake was equivalent to the total energy of 900 magnitude 6 earthquakes.
900 atomic bombs exploding simultaneously in a city can almost be regarded as a catastrophe for the entire city!
In history, the death toll from every magnitude 8 earthquake has been calculated in tens of thousands.
To put it bluntly, there are only a few hundred people in the entire Wanxi Village, and in Li'an City, where an 8.0 magnitude earthquake broke out nearby, the death toll from the collapse of an office building would exceed that of the entire Wanxi Village!
However, Meng Changlong did not tell Zhao Xingguo this. Although it was the truth, it was a bit too hurtful to hear.
Ultimately, the current lack of rescue manpower is due to the wide range and large amplitude of this earthquake. Under such circumstances, we can't expect too much.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the soldiers, armed police and firefighters who participated in the rescue. Many of them originally lived in the city where the earthquake occurred, and their families were also affected by the earthquake. However, they still had to go to other places for rescue according to the instructions of their superiors. It is very likely that they will not be able to go home to save their loved ones. It’s sad and heartbreaking to think about it.
When Meng Changlong thought of his wife and children who were thousands of miles away, his heart was filled with worry. He didn't know what their situation was now.
The communicators in the army could only contact soldiers, so Meng Changlong had no way of knowing the situation of his family. He didn't even dare to ask his leaders whether there had been an earthquake in their hometown and what magnitude it was.
He could only help rescue the villagers in front of him first, and then go home after the rescue was over...
hope……
When he returns home, his wife and children will be waiting for him at home.
No one knew what Meng Changlong was thinking, but after hearing what he had said, the mood of all the villagers in Wanxi Village was somewhat depressed. One of the young men who came to help was so young that he burst into tears.
"How come so many earthquakes suddenly broke out all over the country at the same time? Is the end of the world coming? Are we all finished?" The other party's suppressed voice seemed to be stuck in his throat.
During the three-minute earthquake, his sister's legs were hit by falling stone slabs. Doctor He said that both legs were comminuted fractures.
His sister was only six years old this year, and both her legs were shattered. If she had the money to go to a big hospital for treatment, she might be able to stand up again in the future. But their family had no money at all.
Moreover, judging from the current situation of the earthquake, let alone going to a large hospital in the city to seek medical treatment, even the county hospital here may not be able to survive this earthquake!
When the young man thought about his beautiful and lovely sister, who might be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, he felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart.
Many people have the same idea as this young boy. Could it be that the end of the world is really coming?
Otherwise, how could the strong earthquakes that they rarely saw once every ten years suddenly break out all over the country?
The earth shook for just three minutes at noon, and the whole world became different!
Qin Suyun stood aside, frowning, silent. The expression on her face flickered with the distant lights, just like her sad and depressed mood.
This earthquake was similar to her previous dream, except that it happened half a year earlier and was more detailed than what she experienced in her dream. She could clearly feel the sadness and pain of everyone.
Men don't shed tears easily, but they do when they are sad.
A large group of villagers had originally held out hope for rescue, hoping to just hold on and get through it. But after hearing what Meng Changlong said, everyone felt downcast. Some people couldn't contain their grief and burst into tears.
Zhao Xingguo felt very sad when he saw the villagers' sudden loss of morale, but what was the point of being sad? It had already happened!
Zhao Xingguo didn't want to see everyone looking so dejected. He shouted, "Why are you crying?! Are all these grown men like newborn babies?! You're crying like babies! There are earthquakes happening all over the country, and there's no way to rescue them in time... It's just an earthquake, not the sky falling! As long as this earthquake passes, our village will definitely be able to recover!"
"I know some of your families' houses collapsed, some were seriously injured, and some even lost family members to the earthquake. But since these things have already happened, what's the point of you standing here crying?! As the pillars of your families, have you ever thought about the other women, children, and the elderly in your families while you're hanging your heads and crying?"
"How are they going to live in the future if you're like this now? As the backbone of the family, you should have the responsibility of being the backbone!"
"In the face of natural and man-made disasters, no one is useless. Although our village was severely damaged by the earthquake, the rescue operation in our village was very timely, and we also had the help of Chief Meng and others! Compared to the people in Li'an City, Changyuan City, Henghua City, the major cities at the center of the earthquake, we are much luckier!"
"Even if the houses in the village collapsed, we can still rebuild them! Even if the pigs, cattle, and sheep were crushed to death, we can still raise them later!"
"As for those who were seriously injured and those who died in the earthquake..." Zhao Xingguo lowered his voice before continuing slowly, "We can't bring them back to life, but we can raise funds to help their families overcome their difficulties... We can't change what has already happened. But we have hands and feet, and we can do everything we can to make their families' lives better in the future!"
"An earthquake cannot defeat us! We cannot be defeated by an earthquake!"
Zhao Xingguo's encouraging words made many people excited!
The village chief was right! They were men, the backbone of their families! The whole family depended on them! How could they say such depressing things at this time?!
Seeing everyone's blood boiling as if their Ren and Tong meridians had suddenly been opened, Zhao Xingguo nodded with satisfaction. He raised his hand and said, "Alright! Enough talk, everyone, hurry up and get to work. It's so cold now, can you bear to watch your wives, children and mothers at home sleeping outside in the open air in such cold weather and freezing to death? So, hurry up and act, don't waste time!"
"Woof woof woof~~!!! Woof woof!!" Xiao Qi, who was helping to search for the villagers buried underground not far away, suddenly barked at Qin Suyun.
Zhao Xingguo and his companions were suddenly delighted and immediately put down what they were doing and walked towards the direction of the barking dog.
Throughout the afternoon, while digging in the ruins, whenever they heard this familiar and intense dog barking, they knew that someone had been found!
I just hope that the people rescued this time are still alive!
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