1975 Banqiao Dam failure

[Jim Eshelman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam
Aug 8, 1975, 1:00 AM AWST, Zhumadian, China (32N58'58", 113E37'24")
The Banqiao Dam is on the River Ru near Zhumadian, China. Cracks appeared after its 1952 completion (due to engineering and construction errors) and were repaired. In 1961, when Ty-phoon Nina hovered nearly stationary over the region, massive rainfall pelted the area, a bimillen-nial (“once-in-2,000-years”) flood dumping a typical year’s worth of rain in a single day. The dam was not strong enough to resist the strain. When the Banqiao Dam collapsed (like 61 other dams nearby), a wave of 160 billion gallons of water, 33 feet high and seven miles wide, flashed destructively onto the planes beneath the dam.

At least 90,000 people died and perhaps as many as 230,000 from a combination of the flood and subsequent famine and disease, making this one of the worst death tolls of any event we have studied. Nearly six million buildings were destroyed. The dam burst on the night of a New Moon as Neptune was setting and Mars crossed Eastpoint.

Year: Capsolar {+2}
Sun on MC (0°59') is the most angular, but more impressive are Uranus and Pluto. Though 23° apart in the ecliptic, they are within 0°26' of a perfect mundane conjunction 2° below Descendant.

Bridge {+2}
Uranus and Jupiter set up the underlying July-to-September pattern within which Saturn and Mars strike, overlapping for only four days.
• t Uranus op s EP May 10 to September 1.
• t Jupiter sq. s MC July 3 to September 27.
• t Saturn op. s MC July 10 to August 10.
• t Mars sq. s Moon August 5-8.

Month: Caplunar {+2}
A jumble of close factors in the Caplunar deserve a +1. Even though this is not typical of flood charts, it has more factors consistent with floods than not.

Providing both rain and loss (and, at worst, balancing each other), Moon squares Jupiter 0°33' and opposes Saturn 0°58'.

Neptune is square MC (0°34'), which is flood-worthy enough, and Venus is on IC (1°37'), which potentially means rain mostly is inappropriate for the horrible death. Venus square Neptune (1°07') could be argued for on symbolism, but it would be a stretch – and the aspect is quite uncommon for floods.

However, that Venus is not as sweet and consoling as she looks at first. Besides the Neptune aspect, Venus has a 0°14' PVP square with Mars on the Antivertex. This tips the scales to a plus.

Week: Canlunar {+2}
A remarkable Canlunar has all the core markers for rain, flood, structural failure, and death. In fact, its most prominent aspect is reminiscent of charts for the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earth-quake that took over 200,000 lives.

As in the Caplunar, Moon aspects Jupiter (0°11') and Saturn (0°52'). This time, though, they are on angles – Moon-Saturn culminating together resembling the Sumatra-Andaman charts – with Saturn 0°55' from square Ascendant, Moon a little further (1°47'), and Jupiter 1°54' below Descendant. Closest of all, though, is Uranus, 0°03' from square Midheaven. (Jupiter square Saturn 0°41' is characteristic of structural failures.)

These alone would be enough to earn this chart a +3 score for its excellence. However, we have more wonders yet to behold. Neptune and Pluto are conjoined in azimuth within 0°05' (!), due east on the prime vertical. Besides the Neptune-Pluto PVP conjunction, they both make PVP squares to Jupiter and Uranus. These four additional aspects all fit the event.

Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits {+2}
Transiting Uranus (1°15'), Saturn (1°39'), and Jupiter (0°48') crossed Capsolar angles. Transiting Mars squared Capsolar Moon (0°52'). The angular transiting Jupiter and Saturn were in mutual square. (The CanQ also had Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus angularities for the day.)

CapQ crossings were less impressive, even contradictory. Transiting Sun and the Capsolar’s Mercury-Venus conjunction were on angles for the day. It seems the transits defined the day.


Summary
Year (+2): Sun Uranus Pluto (Mercury). Uranus-Pluto.
Bridge (+3): Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus (Cap).
Quarter (Cansolar): (Dormant.) Moon-Mars.
Quarter (Arisolar, -1): Venus (Moon). Moon-Venus Moon-Mars Venus-Uranus.
Month (+1): Venus Neptune. Moon-Jupiter Moon-Saturn Venus-Mars Venus-Neptune.
Week (+3): Moon Jupiter Saturn Uranus. Moon-Jupiter-Saturn Jupiter-Neptune-Pluto Uranus-Neptune Uranus-Pluto.
Day (Capsolar, +2): Sun Mercury Venus Mercury-Venus (CapQ, -1). Jupiter Saturn Uranus Moon-Mars Jupiter-Saturn (transits, +3).
Day (Cansolar, +2): Jupiter Saturn Uranus Moon-Moon Sun-Jupiter Jupiter-Saturn (CanQ). Moon-Moon (transit).

[SteveS]