Tracing his late father has become a mission impossible for 30-year-old Zhou Jinlong.

Zhou's father, a soldier, died during a rescue operation after the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, and was buried somewhere in the city with his comrades.

Zhou's mother, an illiterate woman who was then looking after three-month-old Zhou alone in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province, didn't manage to get any information about her husband's burial place, though the army informed her of his death

"We've planned to visit my father's tomb in Tangshan in recent years. We've tried every possible source, but we still have no idea where he is buried. We really hope someone can give us a clue," said Zhou.

Thanks to a hotline opened yesterday in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, Zhou has had his dreams rekindled.

The hotline is for Jiangsu rescue workers and earthquake victims to share their memories and look for long-lost friends and relatives.

Most of the stories told to the hotline will be published in the Shijiazhuang-based Yanzhao Metropolis News, which circulates in Hebei Province where Tangshan is located.

Jointly initiated by Yanzhao Metropolis News and local media in many provinces across the country, the "earthquake-remembrance" hotlines have already helped many people resume contact.

The Nanjing Morning Post said in its advertisement for the hotline that "the many unforgettable anecdotes and people that might have faded away with time should be rekindled as the 30th anniversary of the earthquake falls this July 28th."

About 20 Jiangsu people have called the hotline since it was initiated early yesterday morning, operators told China Daily.

Wang Xuguo, 78, the retired Party secretary of No. 1 Nanjing People's Hospital, participated in the two-month-long rescue operation.

According to Wang, the conditions were so terrible that about 70 percent of the 208 medical workers from Nanjing were affected with dysentery.

Wang called the hotline to look for two little children he saved and to find out how their lives have turned out.

"Although we had little time together, the persistence and strong minds of Tangshan people impressed me much," said Wang.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the city in northeastern Hebei on July 28, 1976.

Killing over 240,000 people and destroying 93 per cent of residential buildings, the earthquake was the deadliest of the 20th century.

After the tragedy, tens of thousands of medical workers across the country participated in the rescue operation, including 974 from Jiangsu.

More than 3,000 Tangshan victims were transported to Nanjing for further medical care, including 800 who were severely injured, according to statistics provided by Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Civil Affairs.

(China Daily July 19, 2006)