Second earthquake shakes China; 1 dead in earlier quake

[PeteS in CA]

Second earthquake shakes China; 1 dead in earlier quake

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-earthquake-china-dead-earlier-quake.html

A 7.3-magnitude quake hit Southern Qinghai, China early Saturday. The quake was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep in central China, about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) north of an earlier quake.

USGS geophysicist Jonathan Tytell said the agency expects "significant economic losses" and damage from the quake, but that it's centered in a mostly rural area. There were no immediate reports of deaths.

A little China geography. Qinghai Province is in central China, and is mostly rural. This earthquake was about 260 or 270 miles from Xining and about 150 miles from Yushu, which suffered a quake in 2010 that killed 2700-2900 people. This quake does not appear to have been near any town or village.

[BassWrangler]

Wow, 7.3 is pretty big, right?

[PeteS in CA]

Wow, 7.3 is pretty big, right?

Very. Had it been near Yushu (population ~400K) 10s of thousands would probably have died, and had it been near provincial capital Xining (population ~2.2M) the death toll might have gone into the 100s of thousands.

[BassWrangler]

Very. Had it been near Yushu (population ~400K) 10s of thousands would probably have died, and had it been near provincial capital Xining (population ~2.2M) the death toll might have gone into the 100s of thousands.

Wow, glad it was in a relatively unpopulated area.