today is the 30th anniversary of one of the deadliest earthquakes in human history. on july 28, 1976, at 3:45 am, the sleeping city of tangshen in northern china was rocked awake by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. 240,000 people were dead by sunrise. 15 hours later, another magnitude 7 aftershock brought even further death and destruction. it is the only thing people are talking about today. the effects of that earthquake have rippled throughout time and geography. everyone has a story, everyone was touched. it is much like how we talk of the day JFK died, the space shuttle disasters, or the horrors of 9/11. in a sense, that earthquake has even touched me.