Two earthquakes killed dozens of people over the weekend, in southern China
and a continent away in southern Iran.
On Saturday, Nov. 26, an earthquake struck the Hubei-Jiangxi border region of
China, 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the city of Jiujiang. China's seismological
survey reported the event as magnitude 5.7, according to the state media outlet,
much larger than U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measurements of magnitude 5.0.
The rupture occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers. Had the event been even deeper,
the seismic waves would have dissipated more, causing less damage. More than
8,000 people were injured and over a dozen died, China Daily
reported, and more than 150,000 houses were destroyed; most of the city's half-million
residents evacuated.
China, which had been dealing with the fallout of a massive benzene spill on
its northern Songhua River, turned its attention south to relief efforts in
Jiangxi Province (see The New York Times), including
delivering tents to house people too afraid to go back inside. The southern
China region had not felt such a large temblor in almost 100 years, according
to Xinhua News.
The next day, on Sunday, Nov. 27, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck the southern
Iranian city of Bandar-e Abbas, followed by a magnitude-5.5 aftershock several
hours later. Almost a dozen people died. Also at a depth of 10 kilometers, the
events had their epicenter 60 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of the city, perched
on the eastern edge of the Persian Gulf, according to USGS. Thrust faults riddle
the region, as Africa pushes more quickly north than the Arabian Peninsula.
People in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) felt the major temblor, leading
to the evacuation of several skyscrapers in Dubai, CTV of Canada
reported. The quake destroyed several villages in southern Iran.
Naomi Lubick
Links:
USGS
report on China's earthquake
USGS
report for Nov. 27 earthquakes in Iran magnitude-6.0 and 5.5
earthquakes
USGS
list of Iran's historical earthquakes, including Bam, December 2004 (see
"Unnecessary
devastation in Iran," Geotimes, Web Extra, Dec. 30, 2003)
CTV
(Canada)
Xinhua
News Agency
The
New York Times
Back to top
 |
Geotimes Home | AGI Home | Information Services | Geoscience Education | Public Policy | Programs | Publications | Careers  |