Posted on 05/12/2008 12:27:28 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has hit China's Sichuan province. The tremor was felt across the entire region - shaking buildings in the capital, Beijing, as well as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. US Geological Survey said the quake struck 57 miles north-west of the city of Chengdu at 2.29pm local time (6.28am GMT).
Some 10 million people live in Chengdu.
Earthquake in China, PING.
This report says the epicenter was in a rather remote area:
Breaking News
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1315695,00.html
China Hit By Earthquake
Updated:08:32, Monday May 12, 2008
An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale has hit China’s Sichuan province.
The tremor was felt across the entire region - shaking buildings in the capital, Beijing, as well as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
Quake hit near ChengduUS Geological Survey said the quake struck 57 miles north-west of the city of Chengdu at 2.29pm local time (6.28am GMT).
Some 10 million people live in Chengdu.
An eyewitness said people flooded out of buildings, but there was no sign of damage or injuries.
The area where the quake lies on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, where mountains rise sharply and the population density is generally thin.
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.
In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese, buildings swayed when the quake hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Thanks for the info. Check out the link on post 18 where they say the pop. is very thin and so far there are no reports of widespread injuries or damage.
Chengdu has a population of 11 million, per Wikipedia. I don’t know much about earthquakes, but this sounds like it could be bad...
Thanks.
Place-Saver for later...
I’m off for the night.
Prayers and God speed to those effected.
Well, Chengdu is a major city, for sure. But it sounds like the city itself avoided the worst of it, so maybe it won’t be too bad in terms of damage.
Oh my. 100+ Million people in that province; if my sleep deprived eyes aren’t lying to me. I appreciate the research into the area. I hope to find out more when I wake up. Thanks.
There's going to be massive damage.
But for the Grace of God go I.
My first thought was of the extremely rapid construction cities like Chengdu have seen in the last decade, and how they may not be up to “code”. Let us hope that doesn’t play out that way...
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/china.quake/
This link tells of the damage near the epicenter due to the shallowness and also the population. Ditto what you said.
That CNN article has entirely the wrong population for the city. It’s over 10 million, not 2 million. Maybe someone heard it wrong.
Really. I have no idea. But thanks for your input. I’m sure you’re more accurate than CNN. NOT being sarcastic.
Sky news says over 10 million as well. I think it will be a little while before we find out the extent.
.
Been there and would not want to be there in a 7.8 quake. If there is signicant damage - and I can’t imagine how there would not be - it would not be the easiest place to leave.
Great link. Thanks.
It looks like I got something wrong with the coordinates (decimal conversion) and that the nearest significant population is about 15 miles away.
CNBC now reporting “deaths and injuries and a school collapsed”....
Earlier ‘nothing to see here’ reports seem to have been somewhat optimistic.....
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