RUN!

Historical Narrative Portfolio

By: Kelly

November 7th, 2012

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FAMILY TREEgeni.com

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AUTHOR’S NOTE! “Run!” takes place in Beijing, on July 28th, in the summer of 1976. The story is about my mom who experi-enced the Tangshan earthquake.The earthquake struck at 3:42 a.m., with its epi-center located in Tangshan, an industrial city that is about 110 km (68 miles) away from Bei-jing.

! This earthquake is also known as the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976. The re-

corded magnitude of the first (main) shock was 7.5, followed by a 7.1 aftershock. The death toll was origi-nally recorded as 242,000 people, but it might have reached 655,000.

! About 85% of the buildings and houses collapsed, which resulted in at least 700,000 injuries. Although the epicenter of the earthquake wasn’t in Bei-jing, there was also damage to be repaired there.

! The night before, my mom had been planning on visiting her other cousin in Tianjin. The earthquake struck and afterwards, all the train tracks were crooked, so even if they wanted to, going to Tianjin wasn’t an option.

! The Great Tangshan Earthquake is thought to have the highest death toll recorded in history. The quake lasted only about 14-16 seconds, yet it still damaged the buildings and agriculture.

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Damage caused by the earthquake in Tangshan.

RUN!Historical Narrative

! Rattle, tap, tap. The window vibrated from the sound, waking me. Men-

tally groaning, I flipped over onto my stomach, and tried to cozy myself back

under my blanket. Must’ve been a truck, I thought, annoyed. They always

seemed to be roaring through the streets in the summer. Groggily glancing at

my cousin, Crystal, I saw that she was snoring lightly in her deep slumber. I

then glimpsed at the clock - 3:40 a.m. My eyes were half closed as I drowsily

stared at the blank, moonlit ceiling of my cousin’s apartment. Tick-tock, tick-

tock, went the rhythm of the clock. My eyelids began to droop slowly...

All of a sudden, my eyes snapped open and I woke up from my sleep yet

again. The ground was moving! I popped up on my elbows to look out the

window. The leaves on the trees outside trembled so much that they began to

fall. Uh-oh.

“Quick, quick, quick!” a voice repeated outside our flat. The buzz from

the neighbours began getting louder. “Watch out for th-” The same voice got

cut off. Clang! I heard. I bolted over to my cousin’s bed; I didn’t want to get

crushed by whatever was falling!

“Crystal!” I whisper-yelled. How could she still be sleeping?! “Crystal!” I

said more forcefully. I grabbed the smooth wooden bars of the headboard and

shook them like a mad person.

“What...” she murmured. Slowly sitting up on the edge of her bed, she

rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“Get up! Run, run!” I tugged her arm urgently, then frantically darted

out the door of the bedroom. Crystal scrambled to catch up with me.

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Must not panic. Crystal and I sprinted out the apartment door to see eve-

ryone else in the building pouring out of their flats and into the hall. The flood

of people rushed through the hall; the sound of our footsteps echoing against

the walls. We tried to push our way to the front, but the crowd was too tightly

packed.

Must not panic. The sides of the hallway seemed to be closing in on us.

My mind was working overtime with my race-car thoughts rumbling in and

out of my head. What was happening? What were we running from? Were my par-

ents and brother okay?

Must not panic. The familiar grey stairs finally came into view, and my

feet seemed to be moving without my command. Everything whizzed by me as

I crossed the finish line - the exit. The hot summer air hit me in the face and I

decelerated with a sigh of relief. We had finally gotten out of the building.

“You okay?” multiple people had asked each other. All grouped in hud-

dles, I could hear them discussing what just happened.

“It must’ve been an earthquake,” a man commented. An earthquake? I ig-

nored the chatter of the neighbours and examined my surroundings. The leaves

had stopped falling and the ground had stopped shaking. The quake must’ve

stopped while we were running. Cracks had formed on the sides of some

buildings, but I could see no major damage. Good. The sun had risen and

the sky was a lighter shade of blue. The clusters of people had now spread

apart, milling around on their own. Some

“Let’s go back in - I think it’s safe now,” my aunt gestured for me. Sti-

fling a yawn, I turned and followed them back upstairs.

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INTERVIEW

(With target family member)

1. What was happening before the event? a.What were you doing?It was the middle of the night – we were all sleeping.

2. How did you react to the event? We ran downstairs and out on the street, away from the buildings. I

didn’t think that much; I just wanted to get out of the building.! ! a. How did the people around you react?

Everyone was running and they all were focused on getting out of the building.

3. What happened to the environment around you?

At first I thought the window was shaking (I thought it was a truck or something) and I didn’t really know it was an earthquake. I ran outside and everyone waited until morning, and it started to rain really hard.

a.What was the aftermath of the earthquake? (Buildings, houses, etc.)

- There were cracks in the buildings, and the government said we couldn’t live I

those buildings anymore so we gathered in a cafeteria type thing (temporarily).

b.Did your house collapse? Any major damage?

- No, house did not collapse, but there were cracks in the buildings.

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- After the aftershocks, they were allowed to go to certain places to sleep (that were considered safe), until they were allowed to go back to their houses

- A few years later they reinforced the buildings so it would be resis-

tant to earthquakesc.How did people continue on with their lives?- We had to live outside and there weren’t a lot of tents or places to

sleep so we took our beds outside and used bamboo sticks to make a small house/tent. (Stayed there for about a month and a

half)

-A few years later they reinforced the buildings so it would be resis-tant to earthquakes

4. How old were you when this event happened? How old was your brother?

I was 15 and my brother was 3 years old.5. How did change your (perspective) on life/the world?- Before I never experienced any earthquakes and our area was considered pretty safe- I became more educated on where the safe places were, or how I could

protect myself (alert on safety issues) - When I went to hotels and places like that, I always looked at the es-cape route (just in case).6. Who was with you when the event happened?- With my cousin Crystal (stayed at her house)

- I was going to go to TianJin the next day to visit my other cousin

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- The train tracks were all crooked afterwards7. How were your family members affected by this event?- People couldn’t go to school- Couldn’t go to work for a few weeks

- Lived outside for about a month and a half8. What happened during the event? - I could hear the sound from the earth (earthquake) 9. After the event? - We lived outside and couldn’t go to school

10. Did anyone get injured?- A lot of people got injured (some people got hit by falling bricks or buildings parts)

-When my dad was carrying my brother, he almost got hit by falling pieces of the building

11. What were you feeling? Hearing? Smelling? Seeing? (Sensory details)- Heard loud noises, windows/doors shaking- It was the middle of the night

-scared, because never experienced earthquakes before

12. Did you run ahead of everyone else or stay with them?- Ran with Crystal, aunt and uncle had to help Crystal’s little brother

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Rafferty, John P. "Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclope-dia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://school.ebonline.com/all/eb/article-9438093?query=tangshan earth-quake>.

2.Wang, Wenlan. "Tangshan earthquake: unforgotten history." China daily. 2006. China , Web. . <http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-07/26/content_649955_2.htm>.

3. , . "Historic earthquakes." USGS. . China Feature Agencies, Web. . <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1976_07_27.php>.

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REFLECTIONWhat specific challenges did face during this project?

I think most of the challenges I faced was the writing aspect for the nar-

rative. After I finished my rough draft, I went back and revised and I

found a lot of problems and things I needed to add/take out. I had trou-

ble with finding the right things to say and I played around with the order

of sentences a lot.

What did you learn about your family member? (Personality,

character, etc.)

I learned that my mom actually spent a lot of time with her cousin, Crys-

tal. I also learned a lot about my family history and that my mom has ac-

tually been through a few historical events.

What did you learn about yourself ? (As a learner, as a family

member.)

I learned a lot about my family, which is important because it’s part of

who I am. I also learned a lot about my working process and my writing

style. I’ve never written a historical narrative before, and it was a great

learning experience with the interviewing, researching, and writing.

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How have you grown as a writer?

This project has definitely made me grow as a writer. I learned that when

you first write something and it doesn’t flow very well, you can always

switch around the sentence order. Also, I think writing the narrative has

taught me how to show through dialogue. Although I don’t have a lot in

my writing, the parts that I added shows information.

Why do you think doing a project like this is important?

Doing a project like this is important because I think as middle schoolers,

we don’t really know a lot about our family history and when we interview

our parents or other family member, we learn a lot. Our theme for this

project is ‘Identity’, and I think that learning about what my family has

been through builds on that. I didn’t really realize (before this project)

that the experiences my family has been through has really affected who I

am as a person.

What part of this project did you enjoy most? Why?

My favourite part of this project was probably interviewing my parents

about the historical events my family has experienced. It was really cool

because at first, I really didn’t think my family had any interesting experi-

ences worth writing about. After I interviewed them, I learned that my

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mom experienced an extreme earthquake, my grandma had to evacuate

because of the WWII, and a lot more about my family.

What part of this project did you least enjoy? Why?

The part of this project I least enjoyed was probably the writing process.

It was okay at first, but towards the end I was looking for things to say

and how to write them, so it was a bit challenging.

How do you plan on sharing this with your family/family mem-

ber?

I plan on showing my mom this portfolio at the SLC’s. I think it will be

really interesting because she will get to see how I interpret things in her

point of view., and how I imagined the earthquake.

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