LEAF-go-VSO
Earthquake Alert
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Earthquake Alert |
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Wenchuan Earthquake 12th May 2008 We didn't feel this enormous Magnitude 8.0 earthquake, though apparently some people in Kunming did. In Sichuan province, Yunnan's neighbour to the north, 70,000 people died and more than 17,000 are reported missing. Lesley has written about her thoughts on this terrible tragedy here. Pu'er Earthquake 3rd June 2007
Less than 3 weeks previously an earthquake in NW Laos (see report below) proved to be a drill for a more terrifying seismic event on our own doorstep. At 5.34 am on Sunday 3rd June 2007 Ali and I sat bold upright in bed, awoken by the rumbling and shaking of our home on the 4th floor of our accommodation block. A deep strangled cry of "earthquake" roared from my throat as we instinctively ran to Freda and Edie's bedroom at the back of the flat to get the children. Things fell to the floor around us but the building remained standing. But at the time we didn't know that would be the outcome. As Mrs Gan, a friend and colleague, said later: "It felt like the world was coming to an end".
This was the real, unpredicted, terrifying thing. After one of the longest 30 seconds in my life, the shaking stopped. By this time we were trembling under the main door frame. Freda had for moments been dreaming that she was bumping down a cobbled runway in a small plane. When the building stopped moving we evacuated in bare feet to the playground - the first to arrive in the dark open space, and soon to be joined by hundreds of other shocked college residents. The US Geological Survey calculated the event to be a shallow (10km depth) Magnitude 6.3 and the epicentre was only 30km to the north of us, close to the town of Pu'er. Intensity level here in Simao was approximately VI (perceived shaking = Strong). We now know that all buildings in Simao constructed after 1980 have been designed to withstand magnitude 8.0 earthquakes. The residents of Pu'er, where many of the buildings were constructed in the 1970s, have born the brunt of this event.
Three people were confirmed dead in Pu'er and more than 300 injured, mainly from collapsed houses and debris falling from buildings. Across the affected area more than 90,000 houses have collapsed and 270,000 others were damaged. In Pu'er town 65,000 people are homeless. Communications, water and power supplies were affected and for a while we had no telephone links or TV reception (not that that was a greatly pressing concern!). In the hour following the earthquake all evacuated residents gathered on the basketball courts, slowly dispersing to find breakfast and gather some belongings from their homes. Most people, including ourselves, were reluctant to go inside for fear of aftershocks. We finally went inside at around 9am, after which we experienced two more shocks that sent things shaking to the floor again, including our nerves. After the magnitude 5.1 aftershock that sent students screaming from their tall dormitory block once more, just before 11am, we decided the day would be more bearable spent outside.
On the second night following the earthquake we slept in our own beds. Edie fell asleep reassured that we'd come and get them if it happened again: "You can run mummy, very fast, but you don't need to shout. Just run". This is where the root of our anxiety lies, the nerve that is being struck with every tremor - the deep instinct to protect and to save the children. The building shook at 12:45 am and Lesley, already struggling to fall asleep, announced: "I don't want to live here any more" before finally dropping off. In this part of the world it's something we're really having to learn to live with, along with our neighbours, friends, colleagues and students. It will be some time before we go to bed without recalling being shaken awake, but we should feel fairly safe. Our buildings are strong and our senses are alert. Meantime we should return our attention to crossing the road safely! NW Laos Earthquake 16th May 2007 Just before 5pm on the 16th May 2007 Lesley was working at the computer and Ali was cooking tea when suddenly the desk shook, the house seemed to sway before our eyes and ripples appeared on the surface of the jug of water on the kitchen table. We were jolted out of our carefree existence... EARTHQUAKE ! We're on the top floor of a 4-storey building...what if it falls down? The effects were only felt for about 15 seconds (but it felt much longer) and in a flash we had the LEAF family evacuated downstairs to the playground where we stood around waiting to see what would happen next! Edie and Freda, who had been happily playing with their Playmobil, were wondering what all the fuss was about, and so it seems were the rest of the population of Simao, because precisely nothing did happen next! Except we went back upstairs for our tea...
It was a Magnitude 6.1 event, originating in NW Laos, some 250 km from us here in Simao, at a crustal depth of 38 km. This magnitude of earthquake can be destructive to buildings up to about 100 km from the epicentre, so no problems for us. However we're not sure about the areas of Laos and northern Thailand closer to the source (luckily they are very sparsely populated). Apparently there are no deaths reported, and only some minor structural damage to Chiang Rai (in Thailand, 110 km from the epicentre). The earthquake was felt as far away as Bangkok, where panic ensued amongst the residents of some high-rise buildings! Seismic history In this part of the world the Indian continental plate is remorselessly ploughing northwards into the Eurasian plate, uplifting the Himalayas and raising the high Tibetan plateau behind it. Here in Simao we're sitting on the lateral highlands which have been squeezed out (to the east and south) by this process - fairly close to the plate boundary with lots of geological fault lines and lots of seismic activity! Of course, we knew about the earthquake risk before we came to China. In fact, 14 months after we arrived in China, on the 17th October 2006 Freda and Edie's morning at Nursery was interrupted by the wailing of sirens and they hot-footed it downstairs and outside... It wasn't an earthquake - just a practice evacuation drill, brought on by a recently issued Earthquake Alert. We had heard of the alert from a student the previous weekend. Earthquake prediction in China is a fairly advanced science. The whole of the country is monitored by a system using infra-red data from satellites which identify (ground?) temperature anomalies that occur before an earthquake anywhere between several days and a month in advance. The student we talked to told us that the State Seismolgical Bureau had issued a warning of an impending earthquake for the Simao region. Some of the students are taking the warning seriously, sleeping in their clothes so that they can rush outside at the first sign of a trembling dormitory building! Simao's last local earthquake was on 26th January 2005, 7 months before our arrival here. It was a magnitude 5.0 tremor which damaged some buildings and injured 3 people.
This earthquake caused structural damage to several buildings: brick walls cracked and roof tiles were dislodged. Newer buildings with more floors, like the 4-storey block where we live, are constructed using frames of steel-rod reinforced concrete pillars, and are designed to withstand earthquakes of Magnitude 8.0. We've been told that Simao has a building height regulation in force specifically because of the earthquake risk. (Photos: Peoples Daily Online)
Previous to this the last major earthquake to originate in Simao Prefecture was on 6th November 1988 when the Lancang and Menglian areas were struck by a Magnitude 7.6 event. Many houses collapsed and a figure of at least 938 dead has been quoted. Elsewhere in Yunnan, the famous and historic town of Lijiang was struck by an earthquake in 1996 which destroyed many of the ancient buildings. The Magnitude 7.0 event killed 309 people. Prior to this more than 15,000 people died in a Magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Yunnan in 1970, though authorities at the time covered up information on casualties and damage amid the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
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