1981 Dawu Earthquake
The 1981 Dawu earthquake occurred on , in Sichuan, China. Registering a surface-wave magnitude of 6.8, the earthquake killed about 150 people and injured roughly 300 more. It caused comprehensive damage within close range of its epicenter. Background China has an extensive history of catastrophic earthquakes that ranges back to 1290. The first verified earthquake took place in Chih-li, killing roughly 100,000 people. The next great earthquake was probably the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, the most devastating earthquake of all time. Roughly 830,000 were killed by the event. Other earthquakes in 1917, 1918, 1920, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1950, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976 each killed at least one thousand people. Since 1981, earthquake fatalities have diminished greatly, though have not been stopped. As recently as 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan killed nearly 90,000 people. Characteristics The epicenter was pinpointed to Dawu County in Sichuan. Its official ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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China Standard Time
The time in China follows a single standard UTC offset, time offset of UTC+08:00, where Beijing is located, even though the country spans five geographical time zones. It is the largest sovereign nation in the world that officially observes only one time zone. The nationwide standardized time is named Beijing Time (BJT; ) domestically and China Standard Time (CST) internationally. Daylight saving time has not been observed since 1991. China Standard Time (UTC+8) is consistent across Mainland China, Hong Kong Time, Hong Kong, and Macau Standard Time, Macau. It is also equivalent with Time in Taiwan, Taiwan, Philippine Standard Time, Philippines, Singapore Standard Time, Singapore, Time in Brunei, Brunei, most of Time in Mongolia, Mongolia, Time in Malaysia, Malaysia, Irkutsk Time of Russia, Time in Australia, Western Australia, and Time in Indonesia, Central Indonesia. History In the 1870s, the Shanghai Xujiahui Observatory was constructed by a French Catholic missionary. In 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fault (geology)
In geology, a fault is a Fracture (geology), planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of Rock (geology), rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust (geology), crust result from the action of Plate tectonics, plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction, subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep. A ''fault plane'' is the Plane (geometry), plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A ''fault trace'' or ''fault line'' is a place where the fault can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geological maps to represent a fault. A ''fault zone'' is a cluster of parallel faults. However, the term is also used for the zone ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Chengdu, and its population stands at 83 million. Sichuan neighbors Qinghai and Gansu to the north, Shaanxi and Chongqing to the east, Guizhou and Yunnan to the south, and Tibet to the west. During antiquity, Sichuan was home to the kingdoms of Ba and Shu until their incorporation by the Qin. During the Three Kingdoms era (220–280), Liu Bei's state of Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion and the area's subsequent Manchu conquest, but recovered to become one of China's most productive areas by the 19th century. During World War II, Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, and was heavily bombed. It was one of the last mainland areas captured ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and Borders of China, borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest country by land area. The country is divided into 33 Province-level divisions of China, province-level divisions: 22 provinces of China, provinces, 5 autonomous regions of China, autonomous regions, 4 direct-administered municipalities of China, municipalities, and 2 semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the country's capital, while Shanghai is List of cities in China by population, its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center. Considered one of six ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Surface-wave Magnitude
The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This magnitude scale is related to the local magnitude scale proposed by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, with modifications from both Richter and Beno Gutenberg throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It is currently used in People's Republic of China as a national standard (GB 17740-1999) for categorising earthquakes. Recorded magnitudes of earthquakes through the mid 20th century, commonly attributed to Richter, could be either M_s or M_L. Definition The formula to calculate surface wave magnitude is: :M_s = \log_\left(\frac\right)_ + \sigma(\Delta)\,, where A is the maximum particle displacement in surface waves (vector sum of the two horizontal displacements) in μm, T is the corresponding period in s (usually 20 2 seconds), Δ is the e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It borders Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Shandong and Liaoning to the east, and Inner Mongolia to the north; in addition, Hebei entirely surrounds the direct-administered municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin on land. Its population is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu people, Manchu, 0.8% Hui people, Hui, and 0.3% Mongols in China, Mongol. Varieties of Chinese spoken include Jilu Mandarin, the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, and Jin Chinese. During the Spring and Autumn period, Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (771–226 BC), the region was ruled by the states of Yan (state), Yan and Zhao (state), Zhao. During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the region was called Zhongshu Sheng, Zhongshu. It was called North Zhili during the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1556 Shaanxi Earthquake
The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake ( Postal romanization: ''Shensi''), known in Chinese colloquially by its regnal year as the Jiajing Great Earthquake "" ('' Jiājìng Dàdìzhèn'') or officially by its epicenter as the Hua County Earthquake "" ('' Huàxiàn Dìzhèn''), occurred in the early morning of 2 February 1556 in Huaxian, Shaanxi, during the Ming dynasty. Most of the residents there lived in yaodongs—artificial caves in loess cliffs—which collapsed and buried alive those sleeping inside. Modern estimates by China Earthquake Administration's publications put the direct deaths from the earthquake at roughly 100,000, while over 700,000 either migrated away or died from famine and plagues, which summed up to a total reduction of 830,000 people in Imperial '' hukou'' registration.颤抖的地球—地震科学'' (2005). Researched by China Earthquake Administration seismologists 冯万鹏,薑文亮,龚丽霞,公茂盛,胡进军; Revised by CEA seismologists 王文清,� ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of Natural Disasters By Death Toll
A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, major collateral damage, or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricanes, etc. To be classified as a disaster, it must have profound environmental effects and/or loss of life and frequently causes financial loss. Ten deadliest natural disasters by highest estimated death toll excluding epidemics and famines This list takes into account only the highest estimated death toll for each disaster and lists them accordingly. It does not include List of epidemics and pandemics, epidemics and List of famines, famines. The list also does not include the 1938 Yellow River flood, which was caused by the deliberate destruction of dikes. The Shaanxi earthquake has not been included here which killed approximately 830,000 people in 1556. Deadliest natural disasters by year excluding epide ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2008 Sichuan Earthquake
An earthquake occurred in the province of Sichuan, China at 14:28:01 China Standard Time on May 12, 2008. Measuring at 8.0 (7.9–8.3 ), the earthquake's epicenter was located boxing the compass, west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, with a Hypocenter, focal depth of . The earthquake ruptured the fault for over , with surface displacements of several meters. The earthquake was also felt as far away as Beijing and Shanghai— away, respectively—where office buildings swayed with the tremor, as well as Bangkok, Thailand and Hanoi, Vietnam. Strong aftershocks, some exceeding 6 , continued to hit the area up to several months after the main shock, causing further casualties and damage. The earthquake also caused the largest number of geohazards ever recorded, including about 200,000 landslides and more than 800 Landslide dam, quake lakes distributed over an area of . Over 69,000 people lost their lives in the quake, including 68,636 in Sichuan province. 374,176 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dawu County, Sichuan
Dawu County (), also written Tawu County or Daofu County ( zh, s=道孚县), is a county of northwestern Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and , had a population of 46,900 residing in an area of . By road it is from Kangding, the prefectural seat, and from Chengdu, the provincial capital. It borders the counties of Xinlong to the west, Kangding and Yajiang to the south, and Jinchuan and Zamtang of Ngawa Prefecture as well as Luhuo to the north. In January 1981 it was struck by an earthquake. Administrative divisions Dawu County is divided into 7 towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ... and 12 townships: Climate References External links See this link for a book-length study of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Focal Mechanism
The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the Fault (geology)#Slip.2C heave.2C throw, deformation in the Hypocenter, source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a Fault (geology), fault-related event, it refers to the orientation of the fault plane that slipped, and the slip Euclidean vector, vector and is also known as a fault-plane solution. Focal mechanisms are derived from a solution of the moment tensor for the earthquake, which itself is estimated by an analysis of observed seismic waveforms. The focal mechanism can be derived from observing the pattern of "first motions", whether the first arriving P waves break up or down. This method was used before waveforms were recorded and analysed digitally, and this method is still used for earthquakes too small for easy moment tensor solution. Focal mechanisms are now mainly derived using semi-automatic analysis of the recorded waveforms. Moment tensor solutions The moment tensor solution is displayed gra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Xianshuihe Fault System
The Xianshuihe fault system or the Yushu-Ganzi-Xianshuihe fault system is a major active sinistral (left-lateral) Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, strike-slip fault zone in southwestern China, at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. It has been responsible for many major earthquakes, and is one of the most seismically active fault zones in China. Tectonic setting The Xianshuihe fault system lies within the complex zone of continental collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It forms one of a set of sinistral fault zones that help accommodate the eastward spreading of the Tibetan Plateau. The fault zone defines the northern and eastern edges of the Qiangtang block (also known in part as the Sichuan-Yunnan block), and the southeastern boundary of the Bayan Har block. To the southeast it also forms the western margin of the South China Block. Geometry The Xianshuihe fault system comprises several distinct segments, with an overall length of 1,400 km. Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |