Magnitude 6.4 Qinghai Earthquake Leaves Buildings Cracked and Damaged

Summary: The magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake Jan. 21, 2016, just damages buildings, in contrast to a 6.9-magnitude quake’s casualties and fatalities in 2010.

USGS ShakeMap for Northern Qinghai, China, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2016, at 1:13 a.m. China Standard Time (Monday, Jan. 20, 2016, at 17:13 Greenwich Mean Time): Public Domain, via US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program

Cracked buildings are the reported damages thus far from the magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake Jan. 21, 2016, at 1:13 a.m. China Standard Time (Jan. 20, 2016, at 5:13 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time).

Reports of the earthquake strike based the magnitude level upon statements issued by the official Xinhua News Agency, official press of the People’s Republic of China. Xinhua News Agency considered as the magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake’s epicenter remote, unpopulated areas about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Menyuan, county seat in Qinghai province. China’s official press agency described assorted damages to 34 homes and structural cracks in 20 residences as prompting provision of 700 government-issued tents as temporary shelters.

Even the provincial capital Xining experienced tremors.

Seismologists found the magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake registering at the lower, more moderate green alert and level 5.9 released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Seismologists at the USGS gave the magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake an epicenter depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the surface of the western Tibetan Plateau. The “Roof of the World” has the geo-physical profile of one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions since the Eurasia and India continental plates collide there. The China Earthquake Networks Center indicated possible aftershocks over the next few days, but nowhere near the magnitude 3.4 aftershock within minutes of the initial quake.

Officials judge mobilized medical and police presences and rural renovation preventative of casualties.

Checks on residents sheltering in cars or civil affairs authorities-approved tents keep police busy in freezing temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Dong Jinming, Communist Party of China county committee chief, listed pre-earthquake renovations to 90 percent of rural houses as minimizing homelessness and preventing casualties and fatalities. Huang Jicheng, Hui Autonomous County of Menyuan head, mentioned undisrupted traffic and telecommunications services during and subsequent to the magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake and 189 aftershocks. Little needs to be done other than to monitor aftershocks, prevent cold-related injuries, repair cracked and damaged structures and transition the homeless from tents to housing.

China operates nuclear power reactor plants only in the Republic’s northeast and southeast.

The highest earthquake emergency response activated by civil affairs authorities proves to be level two since the strongest of 189 reported aftershocks registers at magnitude 3.9.

Sichuan Province, whose northeastern populations reported magnitude 6.4 Qinghai earthquake tremors, and Yunnan Province, whose northern inhabitants reported no tremors, qualify as more frequently earthquake-ravaged provinces. The China Earthquake Networks Center database recalls the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan May 12, 2008, and the magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Yunnan Oct. 7, 2014.

The “jolt” and the “rumbling noise” respectively described by Han and Ma Wulong of Menyuan suggest lesser disasters than Sichuan’s 80,000 fatalities and Yunnan’s 100,000 displacements. They turn less tragic than the magnitude 6.9 Qinghai earthquake April 14, 2010.

photo via weibo.com (Sina Weibo) breaking news: People's Daily, China @PDChina via Twitter Jan. 20, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

USGS ShakeMap: Public Domain, via US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program @ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us10004fv5#impact_shakemap

photo via weibo.com (Sina Weibo) breaking news: People's Daily, China @PDChina via Twitter Jan. 20, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/689892229972938752

For further information:

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Available @ https://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2016/01/20/strong-and-shallow-m6-4-earthquake-hits-qinghai-china/

AFP. 20 January 2016. “Shallow 5.9 Magnitude Quake Jolts Northwest China.” Yahoo! News.
Available @ https://in.news.yahoo.com/shallow-5-9-magnitude-quake-181044310.html

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Available @ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/21/asia-pacific/shallow-m5-9-quake-hits-northwest-chinausgs/#.VqFN38irC51

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Available @ http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/magnitude-64-quake-strikes-china-damaging-dozens-homes-36414283

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People's Daily, China @PDChina. 20 January 2016. "Update: People wrapped in blankets wait in the cold after a M6.4 #earthquake hit Menyuan county, NW #China's Qinghai." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/689892229972938752

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Available @ http://www.reactionsnet.com/Article/3522690/Qinghai-Province-China-Earthquake-Mw59-2016.html#.VqFto8irC50

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Available @ http://reliefweb.int/report/china/no-casualties-nw-china-64-magnitude-earthquake