Earthquake Damages Thousands of Homes in SW China

SEISMIC HAZARD
WIDESPREAD DAMAGE
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Earthquake affects more than 68,000 people, leaves 21,000 homeless

A magnitude 5.3 quake struck Yongshan County at a depth of 13 km, at 6:40 a.m. Saturday local time damaging at least 2,731 homes (75 destroyed), affecting more than 68,000, and leaving 21,000 displaced. At least 25 people were injured, authorities said.

The quake also damaged numerous other buildings including 48 schools across six towns, reported Xinhua.

Xiluodu Hydropower Project

“Yongshan is home to the Xiluodu hydropower project, China’s second largest hydropower station, only 15 km from the epicenter. Rumors have spread that the quake was caused by the power station,” said the report.

“The area has a history of quakes, [Zhang Jianguo of Yunnan Disaster Prevention Research Institute] said, and quakes caused by reservoirs usually have quite shallow epicenters, at a depth of around 4 km, while the epicenter of Saturday’s quake was 13 km deep.”

Original caption: A villager stands besides her damaged house in Yongshan County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, April 5, 2014. At least 25 people were injured and 21,000 relocated when a 5.3-magnitude earthquake stuck Yongshan early on Saturday. (Xinhua/Hu Chao). More images…

Fish Ecosystem on Yangtze Collapsing

Yangtze River has lost 99.7% of its fish

Excessive human activity along the Yangtze River including the building of hydroelectric dams and overfishing has pushed the aquatic ecosystem to the verge of imminent collapse: Report

“The number of fish in four major species has shrunk from more than 30 billion in the 1950s to less than 100 million, and the number of breeds has been reduced from 143 to 17, according to the report released by the Yangtze River Fishery Resources Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and the World Wide Fund for Nature,” said the report.

Original caption: Landscape changes since 2005 along the banks of the Chishui River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, suggest the grave effects of human activity on the ecosystem of China’s longest river. [PHOTO BY WANG LEI / FOR CHINA DAILY]

In addition to the dramatic decline  in the number of fish, several other species including the finless porpoise have already become extinct, said Zhao Yimin, head of the Yangtze River Fishery Resources Committee.

“The source species are reducing, leading to unsustainable development of aquaculture and an increasingly fragile ecosystem.” Zhao said.

Some 25 hydropower plants are being built 100 km apart along the 2,308 km on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze,  with a total capacity four times the Three Gorges Dam, according to China’s energy development plan,

“It will cut the river into sections, and completely change the aquatic environment, bringing a devastating impact to species and water quality,” Zhao said.

The Yangtze River basin covers 19 provinces and cities, accounting for 18.8 percent of the land area in China, said the report.

Full report posted HERE.