Published : 13/11/2025

On 13 November, 1990, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) awarded the "Habitat Scroll of Honour Award" to the city of Tangshan (唐山市), recognising the efforts of the People's Government of Tangshan City in earthquake relief, rebuilding homes, and solving the housing problems of millions of people after the earthquake.

Tangshan has played a model role in addressing housing, infrastructure, and service issues in the aftermath of the disaster. The local experience also shows that the active participation of the people plays an important role in improving post-disaster human living conditions.

On July 28, 1976, two major earthquakes with magnitudes above 7 occurred within 16 hours in Fengnan County in the southwestern suburb and the Eastern Mining District (now Guye District) in the eastern suburb of Tangshan City, Hebei Province.

The Tangshan earthquake of that year affected an area of over 30,000 square kilometres, causing 242,769 to 655,237 deaths, 164,851 serious injuries, the collapse of 5.3 million houses, and direct economic losses of 5.4 billion RMB.

It is the second deadliest earthquake in the history of the world in the 20th century.