As you may have heard, there was a large earthquake in the Sichuan province of China a couple of days ago. The epicenter of the quake is roughly 220 miles northwest of ChongQing City where we stayed when we got Autumn. WanZhou, where Autumn (and all of our travelmate's children) is from is appx. 250 or so miles away. To put it in our perspective, that would be basically the distance from Denver to GrandJunction (west) which, even traveling over the mountain passes, is only about a 3.5- 4hour drive. We've done that drive many times to visit G's family and when we're going over to hike and photograph in Utah.
So far, we have found nothing on our search of China sites that says of anything but some minor damage in the CQ municipality which is good. However, the tragedy that's unfolded in the Sichuan province is heart-wrenching. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those families in that area. Half-the-Sky and CCAI both are accepting donations that will go to the orphanages in that area to help with anything that is needed to take care of those children.
We're also hoping that things are okay at the panda center which is located not far up in the mountains from where the quake hit. We have not seen or heard where contact has been made with anyone there so far, but we're hoping it's just communications related and nothing that we'd like to think about. In case anyone wondered, appx 80% of the remaining panda population is located in that region.
the following is a summary from the USGS site:
The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred 90 km (55 miles) WNW of Chengdu, Sichuan, China and 1545 km (960 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China at 12:28 AM MDT, May 12, 2008 (2:28 PM local time in China). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available.
Felt Reports
At least 12,000 people killed and severe damage in the Dujiangyan-Mianzhu-Mianyang area. Landslides blocked roads and buried buildings in the Beichuan-Wenchuan area. Felt (VII) at Chengdu, (VI) at Xi'an and (V) at Chongqing and Lanzhou. Felt in much of central, eastern and southern China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and in Hong Kong. Also felt in parts of Bangladesh, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tectonic Summary
The Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, occurred as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicenter and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China.
On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is a result of northward convergence of the India plate against the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 50 mm/y. The convergence of the two plates is broadly accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau.
Felt Reports
At least 12,000 people killed and severe damage in the Dujiangyan-Mianzhu-Mianyang area. Landslides blocked roads and buried buildings in the Beichuan-Wenchuan area. Felt (VII) at Chengdu, (VI) at Xi'an and (V) at Chongqing and Lanzhou. Felt in much of central, eastern and southern China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and in Hong Kong. Also felt in parts of Bangladesh, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tectonic Summary
The Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, occurred as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicenter and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China.
On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is a result of northward convergence of the India plate against the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 50 mm/y. The convergence of the two plates is broadly accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau.
1 comment:
So sad. Can barely stand to think about it. I force myself to read and watch the news reports because I love China so much. We made our donations to both CCAI and HTS. I hope the help arrives quickly!
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