DAMAGE

M6.6 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEAR YA’AN CITY, SICHUAN

PROVINCE, CHINA

UPDATE 2:

SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 8:30 AM

DAY 1

8:02 AM, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013

• The M 6.6 earthquake was generated by rupture on the same fault zone that generated the May 2008 earthquake.

• The earthquake struck a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province near Ya’an City (pop. 1.5 million) on Saturday morning killed at least 180 and injured about 11,000.

SHALLOW DEPTH

• The earthquake was generated by rupture further south on the Longmanshan fault zone, the same fault zone that ruptured in the May 2008 earthquake.

• A relatively shallow focal depth of 12 km (7.5 miles) made the ground shaking even more destructive.

CLOSE TO THE MAY 12, 2008 QUAKE

• The epicenter was close to the epicenter of the M8.0 earthquake that killed 88,000 people and damaged millions of buildings on May 12, 2008.

Premier Li Keqiang flew to Ya'an to direct rescue efforts,

and he and President Xi Jinping ordered officials and

rescuers to make saving people the top priority

CAUSE OF THE DISASTER:: THE SAME AS IN 2008--

INADEQUATE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INADEQUATE BUILDING

CODE

INITIAL REACTIONS

• When the earthquake occurred, many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.

• People in their underwear and wrapped in blankets ran into the streets of Ya'an and even in the provincial capital of Chengdu, 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Lushan,

INITIAL IMPACTS

• The earthquake toppled buildings, triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections and water service in mountainous Lushan county.

• The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with nearly all the buildings being destroyed.

The well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is

near Lushan, was not affected by the quake.

BUILDINGS WERE UNABLE TO WITHSTAND THE STRONG GROUND SHAKING, WHICH

REPORTEDLY LASTED A MINUTE IN LONGMAN

DAMAGE

DAMAGE

DAMAGE

Day 2:SUNDAY, APRIL 21

RAIN, LANDSLIDES, IMPASSABLE ROADS, AND DEBRIS SLOWED SEARCH

AND RESCUE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE

The government had mobilized thousands of soldiers and others

— 7,000 people by Saturday afternoon — sending excavators

and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other

emergency supplies

PART OF 48 HOUR “GOLDEN PERIOD” FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE HINDERED

• With roads blocked for several hours by landslides, the military surveyed the disaster area by air while waiting.

• Aerial photos showed individual houses in ruins in Lushan, outlying villages flattened into rubble, and the roofs of some taller buildings shaken off, exposing the floors beneath them.

SURVIVORS SLEEP OUTSIDE

• Fearing further damage from aftershocks, wary survivors slept outside their damaged homes in Ya’an city and Longman.

The Chinese Red Cross deployed relief teams with

supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue

equipment to the disaster areas.

SUNDAY, APRIL 21: FRUSTRATION

• Along the main roads, ambulances, fire engines and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable.

• Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across roads.