The first surface rupture from the magnitude-7.0 Baqen earthquake has been found, the China Earthquake Administration said on Monday. A field team, working with the regional earthquake agency in Xizang, located it on Sunday about 15 kilometers east of the epicenter and 20 kilometers from Maru Township in Nagqu, according to China Central Television.
What the rupture shows
The quake was mainly normal faulting with some left-lateral strike-slip movement, officials noted. The rupture surface was close to vertical, with a maximum depth of 3.5 meters and left-lateral displacement of about 0.9 meters. The zone ranges from 8 to 30 meters wide and runs into snow-covered mountains to the north and south. Investigators also recorded multiple cases of soil liquefaction and ground fissures, which the administration said shows geological damage over a fairly wide area.
Aftershocks and secondary hazards
By Monday morning the China Earthquake Networks Center had logged 2,054 aftershocks. The largest, at magnitude-5.7, struck 19 kilometers from the main shock’s epicenter. Two aftershocks were between magnitude-5.0 and -5.9 and ten between -4.0 and -4.9. None reached magnitude-6.0.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has finished inspecting potential hazard sites within 50 kilometers of the epicenter and keeps watching for secondary disasters. It has activated a Level III geological disaster response and sent more experts to work with local teams. Remote-sensing checks of 80 glacial lakes and 145 glaciers in that radius showed limited overall impact, and no glacial lake outburst has been detected so far.
Relief on the ground
The Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Xizang Corps had searched 475 households across seven villages around Maru Township by 3 pm Sunday and was providing medical help. Hot meals and drinking water are being handed out. In Gangqie Township, one of the hardest-hit areas, authorities are relocating residents and distributing cold-weather supplies. Seventeen temporary shelters house more than 900 households, and 200 prefabricated houses are going up at one village shelter. Emergency teams are inspecting buildings and classifying damaged homes to guide repairs.
With the initial search largely done, effort has turned to shelter and daily necessities. Peng Jie, a volunteer from Guangxi who spent two nights and three days getting there, told the Global Times he arrived Sunday and slept in his own tent in temperatures around -10C. A survivor of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, he plans to offer psychological support and advice on handling aftershocks.
Sources
- Follow-up investigation identifies surface rupture zone from magnitude-7.0 Baqen earthquake for the first time
- 2,054 aftershocks recorded after magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Baqen as geo-analysis on 80 glacial lakes and 145 glaciers unfolds
- Earthquake Today: Latest Earthquake today news, Videos of Earthquake today – The Economic Times
Photo: European Space Agency (CC BY-SA 3.0 igo)
