Geography Project

Sichuan

Earthquake
 Member List
 Cheung Chi Lok (4)
 Chow Siu Yin (5)
 Yan Kin Chung (20)
 Fong Wai Sum (24)
 Ho Mei Ching (25)
 Kwan Shuk Yee (26)
 Earthquake
 Earthquakes are the results of earth movement.
Rocks of the crust are under great pressure
which causes strain to build up.
 With continuous tectonic movement the strain
may exceed the elastic strength of the rock, so
that rock fractures along a fault plane, causing
release of the strain and great shaking.
 Sichuan
a province in western
China
capital at Chengdu.
The area lies in the
Sichuan basin and is
surrounded by the
Himalayas to the
west, Qinling range to
the north, and
mountainous areas of
Yunnan to the south.
 Sichuan Earthquake
Date : 12 May 2008
Time :14:28 – 14:51
 Sichuan Earthquake
• Earthquake's epicenter :Wenchuan
County
• Depth of the earthquake focus : 29 km
• Richter magnitude scale : 8.0 Ms .
• Damage : more than 100,000 square
kilometers .
• Lasting time : 5 minutes
 Cause
The earthquake occurred as the result of motion on a
northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the
northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin.
The earthquake’s epicenter and focal-mechanism are
consistent with it having occurred as the result of
movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically
related fault.
The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from
the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from
the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong
crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern
China.
 Cause
On a continental scale, the
seismicity of central and
eastern Asia is a result of
northward convergence of the
Indian Plate against the
Eurasian Plate with a velocity
of about 50 mm/y.
The convergence of the two
plates is broadly
accommodated by the uplift
of the Asian highlands and by
the motion of crustal material
to the east away from the
uplifted Tibetan Plateau. The
northwestern margin of the
Sichuan Basin has previously
experienced destructive
earthquakes.
 Result
 Immediate effects
Highways and buildings were collapsed. At least 5
million people were homeless.
• Up to May 25, China
Wenchuan major
earthquake has resulted
in 62,664 people were
killed and 358,816
injured, a total 23,775
were missing. Transfer of
emergency rehousing
14385640, a total number
of affected 4550.9241
million people.
• Rescue work is delayed
because of disruption of
transport and
telecommunication.
• Public services, such as
water, electricity and
gas supply, are cut off.
• Land subsidence and
landslides occur.
 Further Damage
A. More long-term effects
• Aftershocks : Up to May 22, according to
China Seismological Network Center
determination, a total of Wenchuan area 4.0
times more than 169 aftershocks, the largest
aftershock of 6.1. China Seismological Network
Center experts said, five more aftershocks will
continue intensive activities may be around two
months.
Aftershocks
• Due to the dead bodies
and contamination of water
by sewage, diseases may
easily spread out.
• It is difficult to resume
normal social and
economic activities owing
to the disruption of
transport.
 Landslide
• Landslides are caused when the
stability of a slope changes from a stable
to an unstable condition.
• It may cause landslide dam, which is a
serious problem for the Chinese
government to solve.
 landslide dam ( debris dam )

• a natural damming of
a river by some kind
of mass wasting:
landslide, debris flow,
rock avalanche or
volcano.Some
landslide dams are
known to be as high
as
the largest existing artificial dam
.
• The water impounded
by a landslide dam
may create a dam
lake .
• Due to the
earthquake-stricken
area in Sichuan and
rocks to plug a 35
dam lake .
• last from short times
to several thousand
years.
• Consequences
• landslide dams frequently fail catastropically and lead to
downstream flooding, often with high casualties.
•
• two types of flooding: backflooding (upstream flooding) upon
creation and downstream flooding upon failure. Compared with
catastrophic downflooding, relative slow backflooding typically
presents little life hazard, but property damage can be substantial.
•
• Dammed groundwater
•
• surrounding groundwater level rises. The dam failure may trigger
further catastrophic processes. As the water level rapidly drops, the
uncompensated groundwater hydraulic pressure may initiate
additional landslides. Those which fall into the dam lake may lead to
further catastrophic spillages. Moreover, the resulting flood may
undercut the sides of the river valley to further produce landslides
downstream.
• After forming, the dam leads to aggradation of the valley upstream,
and dam failure leads to aggradation downstream.