Quake evacuation video gets praise online

A video footage of students' emergency evacuation in the recent magnitude-4.8 earthquake in Tangshan is a hit online and the students' calm cooperation is being highly praised, China Central Television (CCTV) reported Thursday.

The video footage, filmed by Tangshan Yingcai School's monitors, shows students in the classroom following the teacher's orders, immediately ducking under desks when the earthquake hit Tangshan city in North China's Hebei province at 10:22 am on May 28.

Seconds later, as the tremors stopped, all the students evacuate the classrooms to the school's playground, with teachers standing outside doors or in the staircases to guide the students, according to the video released by CCTV.

The video also shows a boy, apparently with an injured leg, being carried down stairs by a classmate.

The school said on its official website that all 2,000 students evacuated to the playground in just two minutes, one minute quicker than in the drill.

"Only after necessary quake drills, students could be calm in a real-world situation and make a successful emergency evacuation," Principal Zhang Zhongshan told CCTV.

The well-organized evacuation was highly praised by Internet users and many even believed it was a quake drill. "All schools and kindergartens in Tangshan have earthquake contingency plans, and this is the basis for an emergency response. Other schools should follow the example of Tangshan Yingcai School," said one netizen in an online post, according to a report in Hebei Youth Daily.

A minor earthquake of 3.2 magnitude hit Tangshan just one day after Monday's 4.8 quake. Experts said both quakes are normal geological activities and Tangshan area remains in stable condition.

In 1976, a devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake left more than 240,000 people dead in Tangshan city.