The earthquake lasted for a full 10 minutes!
During those 600 seconds, people on the ground were violently shaken.
Some lost their balance and fell to the ground, their bodies repeatedly slamming against the earth, even spitting blood or losing consciousness from the impact.
Losing consciousness at this time was extremely dangerous.
Fissures appearing on the surface could swallow people whole at any moment.
Tang Li saw many unconscious individuals being tossed and dropped repeatedly on the ground, only to fall into the cracks.
Even cold storage units, refrigerated trucks, and shipping containers on the ground were swallowed by some of the fissures.
However, because they were not too rigidly connected to the ground, these cold storage units did not collapse like fixed buildings; they only suffered some deformation.
Many people, holding onto a slim hope that the cold storage units were sturdy enough to withstand the earthquake, stayed inside and did not come out. In the end, they had no time to escape before falling into bottomless cracks along with the cold storage units.
Of course, there were also many people flying in the sky who would rescue those on the ground, moving people who were about to fall into cracks to safer locations.
After the earthquake stopped, the ground was in ruins.
On the ground, people cried out in pain everywhere, and some lay motionless, covered in blood.
The armed forces of the F City Base moved quickly, swiftly rescuing the injured and handing them over to medical personnel for treatment.
These medical personnel were also professionals recruited from the refugees. They had prepared in advance before the earthquake, and now they were skilled in rescuing people.
Despite suffering the earthquake, everything in the F City Base proceeded in an orderly manner.
Tang Li looked at all this and felt very gratified.
"Guo Guo Jie has great administrative talent! She was a cashier in our supermarket before the apocalypse; she was truly underutilized..."
Ultimately, apart from those who were too severely injured to be saved, and those swallowed by the fissures, most people in the F City Base survived safely.
Compared to the F City Base, the Jiangcheng Shelter was much more tragic.
As the dust settled, Tang Li and Peng Yixuan both saw that the once tall buildings had now been reduced to rubble, bricks, and stones.
Beside those tall buildings, even the people who had escaped were bleeding from head injuries, some even lying on the ground without a sound.
Although the authorities had known about the earthquake in advance and had conducted many earthquake drills, most people still underestimated its power.
Many others, seeing that it was already 10 PM and the earthquake had not started, believed there would be no earthquake and went home to sleep.
Still others, unable to bear the heat of the extreme summer season, sought the coolness inside their homes. They held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that even if an earthquake occurred, they could quickly run out with the early warning, and thus remained inside their buildings.
At this moment, most of these people were buried under the ruins. A small minority were hit by flying bricks and stones from collapsing buildings, suffering severe head injuries. Only a few managed to escape.
As the dust settled, alarms blared throughout the Jiangcheng Shelter.
The pre-prepared rescue teams also sprang into action, rescuing those buried under the debris.
Concurrently, medical supplies were transported to various locations within the shelter to treat the wounds of those who had suffered head injuries.
At this point, there was no time to worry about protecting against delta particles; saving lives was paramount.
As for those who were rescued, if their genes were damaged due to delta particle radiation, there was nothing that could be done.
Their survival was already fortunate.
As the rubble was cleared, rows upon rows of bodies were laid out in the cleared open spaces.
Although the 72 hours after a major earthquake are the golden hours for rescue, this did not guarantee that those under the rubble could survive.
Following the main shock, aftershocks continued to occur intermittently.
This further complicated the disaster relief efforts.
Tang Li knew that such aftershocks would continue for eight months.
By May of next year, when the solar storm and the great drought ended, the great earthquake would also end.
Looking into the distance from high above, Tang Li saw that Jiangcheng Shelter No. 6 was lit up.
Helicopters roared by, and large numbers of vehicles moved in all directions.
That was the Jiangcheng garrison in action, carrying out rescue operations in various shelters.
At Jiangcheng Shelter No. 1, the location of the Jiangcheng Governor's Mansion, helicopters were also taking off.
That was the high-level Jiangcheng officials urgently evacuating from the earthquake.
Boom!
Suddenly, a blinding white light erupted from there.
Several helicopters flying in mid-air exploded!