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A
major
(M7.0-M7.9
range termed as "major")
earthquake struck
Wenchuan country in the mountains along the western edge of the
Sichuan basin in Sichuan, China, on
12 May 2008 at 14:28 PM local time. It had a magnitude of
Mw=7.9 and caused significant damage as well as
heavy casualties in the region but
no casualties. The Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake
Administration (IGP-CEA) calculated a seismic moment release of
Mo=4.4x1021
Nm that corresponds to Mw=8.4.
This is the deadliest earthquake on the Chinese mainland since the
1976 Tangshan earthquake that claimed nearly 2,50,000 lives.
This page is only meant to detail
the effects of this earthquake in South Asia
This earthquake was centred
7.4 kms E of Wolonguan (Sichuan), China,
28.4 kms E of Dengsheng (Sichuan), China,
41 kms W of Guankou (Sichuan), China,
52.4 kms NE of Qiaoqi (Sichuan), China,
89.3 kms WNW of Chengdu (Sichuan), China,
358 kms NW of Chongqing (Chongqing Municipality), China,
651 kms SW of Xian (Shaanxi), China,
661 kms ENE of Minutang (Arunachal Pradesh),
India,
807 kms ENE of Sadiya (Assam), India,
1138 kms NNW of Hanoi, Vietnam,
1455 kms NW of Hong Kong (HSAR), China,
1508 kms NE of Dhaka (Dhaka), Bangladesh,
1560 kms SW of Beijing (Beijing), China,
1744 kms W of Shanghai (Shanghai), China,
1912 kms WNW of Taipei, Taiwan,
1940 kms NNE of Bangkok, Thailand.
This earthquake resulted in 69,180
fatalities (provincial figures in parenthesis) in the
provinces of Gansu (365), Guizhou (1), Henan (2),
Hubei (1), Hunan (1), Shaanxi (122), Sichuan
(68,636)
and Yunnan (1)
provinces as well
in Chongqing
Municipality (18)
in China
as of 1 August 2008. Nearly
4,00,000
people were injured as a result of this earthquake and nearly
5-million left homeless. At least 15.61
million buildings were damaged by the earthquake including 3.13
million that had collapsed.
The
earthquake was widely felt across much
of central, eastern & southern China including as far as Beijing,
Hong Kong and Shanghai. It was also felt in parts of Bangladesh,
Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. At least one
foreshock of Ms=4.2 occurred to the north-east of Beichuan on 12
May 2008 at 00:34 AM local time.
If you felt this
event in Bangladesh, India or Myanmar,
please take the time to fill out a
felt report questionnaire.
This earthquake is reported to have also been felt at Dohorpara &
Koikha in the
Kotalipara Upazilla of Gopalganj district
in Dhaka division, Bangladesh
accompanied by seismic seiches in ponds. No accounts of this nature
were available from adjoining parts of eastern and
north-eastern India. Media reports of
the earthquake being felt as far as Pakistan appear to be
unjustified. A separate tremor was reported on 12 May 2008 from
Chaman in Balochistan, Pakistan, at ~11:45 AM
PST (~06:45 UTC) that frightened people, sending them outdoors.
Earlier on the same day, a M5.2 earthquake centred in the
Hindukush mountains was felt in parts of northern Pakistan
including at Islamabad at 01:57 AM PST (20:57
UTC).
The 2008 earthquake is the strongest earthquake to occur on the
Chinese mainland since the
Mw=8.4 Chayu-Upper Assam earthquake on 15 August 1950 that struck
the Tibet-Arunachal Pradesh border claiming over 5,000 lives in
both China & India.
Worldwide, the 2008 earthquake is the deadliest earthquake since the
Kashmir earthquake on 8 October
2005 and within China's borders the deadliest earthquake since the
Mw=7.5 Tangshan earthquake on 28 July 1976
that claimed around 2,55,000
lives. The Tangshan earthquake along with the
Mw=8.3 Haiyuan Earthquake (Ningxia-Gansu) on 16 December 1920 and
the Mw=7.7 Gulang Earthquake (Gansu) on 22 May 1927 are the
deadliest earthquakes in China since 1900, each resulting in the
loss of over 2,00,000 lives.
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