Yunnan Quake Injures 300
Posted by feww on July 10, 2009
A Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake in China’s SW Yunnan Province Injures 300
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, which was initially reported as a magnitude 5.5 shock by USGS, has reportedly toppled 10,000 homes, injuring more than 300 people.
[Note: The number of toppled building may have been exaggerated for political reasons.]
The moderate-to-strong quake struck at 19:19:17 [time at epicenter] yesterday in Guantun, a small town about 100 km (60 miles) ENE of Dali, Yunnan, China. Eight aftershocks measuring 3 to 4.1 on the Richter scale followed the mainshock.
10-degree Map Centered at 25°N,100°E
Earthquake Location. (Source: USGS)
Seismic Hazard Map
Major Tectonic Boundaries: Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges -red and Transform Faults -green (Source: USGS)
Historic Seismicity
Major Tectonic Boundaries: Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges -red and Transform Faults -green (Source: USGS)
Earthquake Details
- Magnitude: 5.7
- Date-Time
- Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 11:19:17 UTC
- Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 07:19:17 PM at epicenter
- Location: 25.619°N, 101.086°E
- Depth: 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
- Region: YUNNAN, CHINA
- Distances:
- 100 km (60 miles) ENE of Dali, Yunnan, China
- 120 km (75 miles) SSW of Panzhihua (Dukou), Sichuan, China
- 695 km (430 miles) SW of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
- 2130 km (1320 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China
- Location Uncertainty: horizontal +/- 7.1 km (4.4 miles); depth fixed by location program
- Parameters: NST= 89, Nph= 89, Dmin=975 km, Rmss=1.19 sec, Gp= 50°, M-type=centroid moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8
- Source: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
- Event ID: us2009iwar
According to China’s official Xinhua News Agency:
The quake occurred at 7:19 p.m., at a depth of about 10 kilometers, with the epicenter in the county’s Guantun Township, about 200 km from the provincial city of Kunming, said the China Earthquake Networks Center.
More than 300 people were injured and more than 10,000 houses collapsed in a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China’s Yunnan Province Thursday evening, local authorities said.
Among the victims, 30 suffered severe injuries while the other 305 were slightly injured as of 1 a.m., said the quake-relief headquarters in Yao’an County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
The headquarters previously put the number of injuries at 336, among whom 56 were severely injured.
More than 10,000 houses collapsed and more than 30,000 others were damaged in six counties in Chuxiong, according to the latest figure.
Last year’s magnitude 7.9 quake struck China’s Sichuan province, northeast of yesterday’s quake, killing up to 90,000 people [many of the victims were schoolkids studying at shoddily-built schools when the disaster occurred,] and destroying as many as 5 million structures that left millions homeless.
For detailed reports and reference on Sichuan quake see links below.
Related Links:
Fire Earth 
feww said
UPDATE:
A magnitude 5 aftershock occurred today, July 10, 2009 at 09:02:04 UTC
Location: 25.627°N, 100.949°E]
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles)
Region YUNNAN, CHINA
Distances
+ 85 km (55 miles) ENE of Dali, Yunnan, China
+ 130 km (80 miles) SW of Panzhihua (Dukou), Sichuan, China
+ 705 km (435 miles) SW of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
+ 2145 km (1330 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China
Source: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID: us2009ixaq
Damage Report
– Reports say one person was killed and 328 were injured, more than 35 of them seriously.
– Some18,000 buildings were toppled and about 75,000 others damaged in Yao’an and five other counties.
– More than 400,000 people in the quake zone need to be evacuated or relocated.
– Damage estimate is put at $400 million so far
Previous quakes in the Yunnan Province: