Chapter 556: Aftershocks

No one had ever experienced such a thing, so even though Baifeng shouted, and even though Baifeng ran out, most of them just stood there, stunned and rooted to the spot, not knowing what they should do.

Although the earthquake had already stopped, and the magnitude shouldn't have been strong, Baifeng was afraid, so when he brought the two children to the open ground, he was still shouting loudly for them to ignore everything else and get out immediately.

Although the sudden earthquake left everyone somewhat at a loss, the crowd, not feeling much danger, was only somewhat bewildered.

Yulong and Changle, having come to their senses, also had their expressions turn sour, and they asked nervously: "Father, was that just now the earthquake you spoke of? The one caused by plate movement..."

Baifeng's face was slightly pale; the two brothers were seeing a panicked expression on their father's face for the first time, and only then did they truly realize that an earthquake might be even more terrifying than they had imagined.

Everyone stood around Baifeng with blank expressions, but Baifeng ignored their emotions and thoughts, roaring loudly: "Huaxia is now entering a Level 1 state of combat readiness; the meeting is suspended. Ministry of War, immediately organize personnel to go throughout Huaxia City to check if there are any collapsed houses; if there are, rescue people immediately. Ministry of Revenue, immediately begin opening the granaries to take out grain, preparing three days' worth of food for two thousand people. Ministry of Works, immediately conduct inspections to see if Huaxia's water conservancy system has been damaged, and check every family's house to see if there is any tilting or cracking. Ministry of Health, set up a field hospital, ready to treat a large number of wounded at any time.

Every household, now, immediately move out of your houses and set up tents in open areas outside, ensuring there are no trees, walls, or houses that might collapse and crush them; you are not allowed to live in your homes for the next few days.

Prepare enough water, food, and firewood. If you feel the ground shaking, immediately stay away from houses and buildings and run to an open area. Everyone! This is an earthquake, a very terrifying natural disaster, a natural disaster that can bury our tribe of over one hundred thousand people underground in just a few breaths; this is not something that can be compared to rainstorms or floods. It won't even give you time to run for your lives, so you must take it seriously. Now, begin acting immediately, and at the same time, quickly pass the order to Lema City and have them execute it according to the order."

From Baifeng's arrangements, everyone also felt a sense of tension; even when the Suiren Clan came to attack them, there had never been mobilization to this degree.

Everyone quickly found their own positioning and responsibilities and hurriedly began to work. Baifeng's expression was somewhat dazed, and he slumped onto the ground. In his mind were collapsed houses, the sounds of wailing and calls for help, the sounds of people crying and calling out for their dead loved ones, and people who had lost everything and, because of extreme grief, had no emotional fluctuations at all.

There was also the sunset he had once experienced in his hometown, the night before the earthquake, which had filled half the sky and was redder than blood.

Yulong and Changle hurriedly stepped forward to support Baifeng, but Baifeng refused them: "Let me recover for a moment. You haven't experienced it, so you don't know the terror of an earthquake. Moreover, this earthquake was likely quite far from us, so it didn't feel very severe. Otherwise, with the kind of houses we have, you wouldn't even have time to run for your lives..."

Yulong also sat down while he was at it: "Father, then... our houses didn't collapse, and I don't see any big problems, so why make such a big fuss?"

Baifeng sighed: "This meeting room is basically the sturdiest house in Huaxia, and the houses in the center of the city are all very sturdy, so there shouldn't be any problems. But what about other places, especially on the edge of the city? The houses there aren't built as well, and people live densely. If just one collapses, that will be a big problem. As long as we hurry to rescue them now—if no houses collapsed, that would be for the best, but as long as there are houses that have collapsed, if we rescue them quickly, there is a possibility of survival."

Yulong tentatively asked his father: "Father, then where do you think it was more severe this time? Could it be the Xuanyuan Clan? Also, why, even after the earthquake has passed, do we still have to make everyone live in tents?"

Baifeng looked into the distance: "The Xuanyuan Tribe lives in a good place; basically, there won't be earthquakes there, and even if there were, they wouldn't feel much. On the contrary, here, the number of earthquakes in the future will not be few, so you must pass this experience down. Your descendants must all understand and know how to handle it.

Where did the earthquake happen? I don't know either, but it was either to the northwest or the southwest. An earthquake won't just happen once; it is possible that in the next few days, or even dozens of days, the earthquakes will continue..."

Baifeng's voice had just fallen when a loud boom immediately came from the earth again, and at the same time, the ground shook for a few more seconds. Now, the faces of Yulong and Changle were also deathly pale. Just that one loud boom from a moment ago left them somewhat at a loss, as if a sense of fear had come from the depths of their hearts. The terror of that sound far exceeded the sound of thunder or the sound of a Bomb exploding; no matter how big a Bomb explosion was, the sense of fear would not be this intense.

Baifeng hurriedly said to the two: "Alright, hurry and get to work. Yulong, quickly handle your Ministry of Revenue affairs. You are the one managing the Ministry of Revenue now, so you must move at the first opportunity. If people lack grain, send grain; if they lack water, go send water; if there are no tents, send tents. Don't stay here chatting. And Changle, hurry home and call your mother and the others out."

"Yulong, this time, focus on the schools and the edge of the city. Go now!"

Yulong hurriedly stood up and then ran with long strides to get to work. Changle also hurriedly left. When the first tremor happened, they didn't feel much fear and didn't think it was serious, so they had forgotten their families. Now, hearing Baifeng say this, added to the aftershock, it made them start to panic as well.

Baifeng squatted on the ground, not caring at all about his image, stroking the ground and muttering to himself: "Earth, why must you be like this?"

In less than half a day, the preliminary inspection results were already out. Sixteen civilian houses in Huaxia had collapsed, basically all of them belonging to people in the edge of the city who had built mud-brick houses themselves. The quality was extremely poor because they had built them themselves, and their skill level was not good. If one really had to say, they counted as illegal construction, but Huaxia did not have laws in this regard.

The number of such mud houses that had cracks or were tilting exceeded one hundred, and even more chicken coops and dog houses had collapsed. However, the houses built uniformly by Huaxia basically had no problems and did not show any cracks. Many people who were living inside said they only felt some shaking, and then dirt fell down from the roof.

Fortunately, the magnitude of this tremor was very small by the time it reached Huaxia. Except for the shoddily built houses, no problems appeared. Of the sixteen collapsed houses, only one person died and three were injured; the others were not in the houses at the time, so they escaped disaster.