MW 7.9 SW China 69,159 confirmed dead; 17,469 still missing

[Chacor]

It was felt in Beijing 950 miles away, and even as far south as Bangkok, Thailand.

Was it felt in the Nargis hit areas?

We'll never know, with the limited info coming out of there. Shouldn't make any different to the recovery effort in Burma though.

[GCANE]

It was a shallow quake which could account for the fact it was felt so far from the epicenter.

[HURAKAN]

Based on this map, if it was felt in Bangkok, it was felt in the Irrawaddy Delta.

[mrslinarcos]

It was also felt in Vietnam, what was the duration of the quake?

[GCANE]

It was also felt in Vietnam, what was the duration of the quake?

A tourist closeby commented that it lasted very long:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/ ... st.uht.cnn

[masaji79]

Magnitude 5.1
Date-Time

* Monday, May 12, 2008 at 15:28:54 UTC
* Monday, May 12, 2008 at 11:28:54 PM at epicenter

Location 31.129°N, 103.391°E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
Distances

* 88 km (55 miles) NW (310°) from Chengdu, Sichuan, China
* 133 km (83 miles) WSW (256°) from Mianyang, Sichuan, China
* 176 km (109 miles) N (350°) from Leshan, Sichuan, China
* 1151 km (715 miles) NNW (348°) from HANOI, Vietnam

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.3 km (4.5 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 57, Nph= 57, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=0.98 sec, Gp= 58°,
M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=6
Source

* U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center:
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

Event ID us2008rybv

Quite a large aftershock rumbling through the area.

[Cyclenall]

It's one major disaster after another. It's like 2005 all over again.

[lurkey]

Those with tech stocks, might want to read this article:

The epicenter was about 55 miles northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan--one of the country's most populated provinces. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake struck about 2:30 p.m. local time Monday in China--or 11:28 p.m. PDT Sunday.

Chengdu has attracted tech companies in part through its High-Tech Industrial Development Zone. According to the Invest Chengdu site, the zone has attracted a huge number of domestic and foreign tech companies, including IBM, Symantec, Microsoft, Intel, Fujitsu, NEC, Motorola, and Nokia.

Five years ago, Intel announced an investment of $200 million in a chip test-and-assembling center in Chengdu.

On Monday, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said none of its employees in Chengdu were injured, nor was its facility damaged.

The chip giant immediately evacuated its roughly 2,000 workers from the plant when the earthquake struck, Mulloy said.

The plant has no power or water and is currently running on back-up power. Intel hopes to have the test-and-assembly center running again by Wednesday.

"We are geographically diverse, so there is no near-term impact to the business," Mulloy said.

He added that no product is exclusively tested and assembled at the Chengdu plant. The site focuses on microprocessors, chipsets, and communications chips.

More about the aftershocks:

Accounts of the earthquake came fast and furious. Graham Webster, a member of the CNET Blog Network, twittered: "13 seismic events above 4.9 measured since the first quake, reports USGS"
The USGS, which tracks earthquakes around the world, reported the 7.8 earthquake had a depth of 6.2 miles.

and pictures:

Sina.com, one of China's most popular sites, featured photos that appear to be related to Monday's earthquake.

The latest word from Chengdu: "More aftershock! This is getting old now. Boring!"

an hour ago from inwalkedbud from Chengdu

and first-hand accounts via Twitter:

Shanghaiist from Shanghai
Graham Webber from Beijing
inwalkedbud from Chengdu

[wyq614]

Death toll now reached 8,533.
-Sichuan-
Beichuan County 3000-5000 estimated died
Deyang City 412 died
Mianyang City 53 died
Guangyuan City 52 died
Chengdu City, Capital of Sichuan 45 died
Dujiangyan City 50+ died
Ziyang City 10 died 86 wounded
Meishan City 8 died, 3,000+ wounded
Zhongjiang County 5 died
Garze Prefecture 5 deaths
Aba prefecture 6 deaths
Neijiang City 4 deaths
Suining City 7 deaths
Chongqing Municipality 50 deaths
Gansu Province 48 died, 16 seriously wounded
South Gansu (Gannan) Prefecture 2 died
Shaanxi Province 57 died
Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province 1 died and 9 wounded.

[lurkey]

More first-hand accounts at Cnet Asia including this update:

Update: One of my Chinese friends just sent me a message, "people in Sichuan saw thousands of frogs crawling in the street, which is believed may mean something terrible." He's right.

A picture of the frogs is at the website

[JonathanBelles]

wow....again and again I hear if the animals are goin one way, you better follow.

[wyq614]

This afternoon around 2 pm we were having classes when a shake was felt, and through mobile message we came to know that a severe earthquake has occurred in Sichuan. My Sichuan classmates started to try to get in touch with their family, but those who came from Chengdu never succeed. They were so anxious that they started to cry. Strong shake was felt in Shaanxi, too. My deskmate, who is a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi telephoned her family but failed to get through. The phone communication to Guizhou Province also got down.

It is forecasted that between 10pm and midnight, an earthquake of magnitude 2-6 may occur in Beijing and between my mates there were panic, but soon it turned out to be a "rumour", but still, we get prepared to the possible quake. Regularly the playground of our university closes at 10pm and the electricity supply cuts at midnight, but this night none of the two happens. The guards of the dormitory buildings are now gathered together in order to act when necessary.

In Sichuan University, people are told not to go back to the dormitory but to sleep in the playground. In Sichuan Foreign Language Institute (located in Chongqing), students are advised to do the contrary but the panicking students never dare to go back to their rooms.

In Hubei, a mag.6 earthquake occurred near Huangshi City.
In Wen'an County, Hebei, a mag 5.1 earthquake also happened. Wen'an County is more or less 150 km to the south of Beijing.
In Shijiazhuang, Shanghai and Zhejiang as well as Hong Kong, shakes are also reported.

I have two friends from Ziyang City, Sichuan Province. One told me that some houses near her home are destroyed and in it there were people dead. The other's house now has cracks.

[vbhoutex]

This is a terrible tragedy. We are glad to know that you are ok!!!

[Thunder44]

It's now a 7.9 quake:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... 08ryan.php

[HURAKAN]

Death toll in China earthquake up to nearly 9,000
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago

One of the worst earthquakes in decades struck central China on Monday, killing nearly 9,000 people, trapping about 900 students under the rubble of their school and causing a toxic chemical leak, state media reported.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated a hilly region of small cities and towns in Sichuan and nearby provinces. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and dozens of other deaths were reported in surrounding areas.

Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Sichuan province's Beichuan county after the quake, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply.

State media said a chemical plant in Shifang city had cratered, burying hundreds of people and spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia from the site.

The earthquake sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Vietnam and Thailand.

It posed a challenge to a government already grappling with discontent over high inflation and a widespread uprising among Tibetans in western China while trying to prepare for the Beijing Olympics this August.

The quake hit about 60 miles northwest of Chengdu — a city of 3.75 million — in the middle of the afternoon when classrooms and office towers were full. There were several smaller aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

The temblor struck hilly country leading up to the Tibetan highlands, toppling buildings in small cities and towns in the largely rural area. About 1,200 pandas — 80 percent of the surviving wild population in China — live in several mountainous areas of Sichuan.

The earthquake, China's deadliest since 1976, occurred in an area with numerous fault lines that have triggered destructive temblors before. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Diexi, Sichuan that hit on August 25, 1933 killed more than 9,300 people.

Xinhua said 50 bodies had been pulled from the debris of the school building in Juyuan town but did not say if the children were alive. Students also were buried under five other toppled schools in Deyang city, Xinhua reported.

Its reporters saw buried teenagers struggling to break loose from underneath the rubble of the three-story building in Juyuan "while others were crying out for help." Two girls were quoted by Xinhua as saying they escaped because they had "run faster than others."

Photos showed heavy cranes trying to remove rubble from the ruined school. Other photos posted on the Internet and found on the Chinese search engine Baidu showed arms and a torso sticking out of the rubble of the school as dozens of people worked to free them, using their hands to move concrete slabs.

Calls into the city did not go through as panicked residents quickly overloaded the telephone system and the quake also affected power networks.

Although it was difficult to telephone Chengdu, an Israeli student, Ronen Medzini, sent a text message to The Associated Press saying there were power and water outages there.

"Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he said.

The road to Wenchuan from Chendu was cut off by landslides, state media said, slowing the rescue efforts.

Though news trickled out in the first hours after the quake, the government and its media quickly mobilized, with nearly 8,000 soldiers and police sent to the area. China Central Television ran non-stop coverage, with phone reports from reporters and a few isolated camera shots from the scene.

Disasters always pose a test to the communist government, whose mandate in part rests on providing relief to those in need. In recent years, the government has improved emergency planning and rapid response training for the military.

The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles to the north, less than three months before the Chinese capital was expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics.

Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium — known as the Bird's Nest and the jewel of the Olympics — was conducting an inspection at the venue when the quake occurred. He told reporters the building was designed to withstand a 8.0 quake.

"The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee.

Skyscrapers swayed in Shanghai and in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese coast. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the streets downtown. A building in the Thai capital of Bangkok also was evacuated after the quake was felt there.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.

The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.

China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing 240,000 people

[mrslinarcos]

Very sad to read all of this. My heart goes out to all of them, we could have had the same thing happen here in IL with our quake last month.

[CajunMama]

These poor people. Look at all the aftershocks.

wyq614...i'm glad to hear you are safe. I hope your friends families are safe and unharmed also.

Code: Select all

MAG UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s LAT deg LON deg  DEPTH km   Region
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 17:54:32    31.228 103.483  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 4.8 2008/05/12 17:52:23    31.891 104.449  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 4.9 2008/05/12 17:03:10    31.133 103.586  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 15:28:54    31.129 103.391  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 15:05:30    31.258 103.700  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 14:46:08    32.709 105.617  10.0   SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 14:15:26    32.120 104.612  10.0   SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 4.9 2008/05/12 13:40:54    31.023 103.526  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 4.9 2008/05/12 12:15:41    31.898 104.623  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.8 2008/05/12 11:11:02    31.249 103.693  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 10:23:40    30.992 103.413  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.5 2008/05/12 09:42:25    31.519 104.116  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 4.9 2008/05/12 09:23:34    32.142 104.894  10.0   SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 09:07:00    31.255 103.788  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.0 2008/05/12 08:47:25    32.215 105.029  10.0   SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 4.9 2008/05/12 08:26:12    31.399 103.957  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.2 2008/05/12 08:21:40    31.542 104.085  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.2 2008/05/12 08:10:59    31.225 103.574  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.4 2008/05/12 07:34:42    31.278 103.799  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.7 2008/05/12 06:54:18    31.155 103.826  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 6.0 2008/05/12 06:43:14    31.225 103.761  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 7.9 2008/05/12 06:28:00    31.099 103.279  10.0   EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... ia_eqs.php

[RL3AO]

An impressive couple weeks. Nargis and Rammasun, the Chile volcano, and the Chinese earthquake.

[lurkey]

An impressive couple weeks. Nargis and Rammasun, the Chile volcano, and the Chinese earthquake.

Is Reno still shaking?

more from Shanghaiist:

The famed Wolong Giant Panda Reserve is located in Sichuan's Wenchuan County, epicenter of the earthquake: http://is.gd/feq

[mrslinarcos]

Plus the earthquake swarm off the coast of Oregon. I don't know about all of you, but something bigger is coming.