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Dear colleagues,
On behalf of Asian Seismological Commission (ASC) and from me personally, please accept our deep and sincere condolences in connection with the victims of the devastating earthquake that took place on Monday, February 14, 2003 in the western edge of Xinjiang province in China.
ASC is ready upon request to render any professional assistance within its ability to overcome the consequences of the earthquake.
Prof. Serguei Balassanian ASC President
Devastating earthquake in China. The number of the victims increases.
The number of victims in yesterday’s (February 24, Monday 2003, at 10:30 am) earthquake which took place in Xingjian province, China has reached 261, more than 2000 are injured and more than 9000 buildings are destroyed. An uncertain number of children is trapped under the collapsed school building. During the past day more than 100 aftershocks have been recorded, the strongest of them was of magnitude 5, 0. Unfortunately, just like in any other strong seismic event, the number of death will apparently increase.
According to the information of Yerevan office of Asian Seismological Commission (ASC) and Armenian Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth (AASPE) the most devastating earthquake in China took place on 27 July, 1976 in Tan-shan area with magnitude 7,8. In accordance with the official reports it took the lives of 242000 people. For the last 10 years in Xinjiang province more than 20 earthquakes have been recorded with magnitude higher than 5,0. Three days earlier before the yesterday’s earthquake, on February 20, an earthquake with magnitude 4,8 took place in the north of this province.
The victims and the destructions can be explained by the fact that the earthquake hit the highly populated (37000) center of city Bachu with its old, seismically vulnerable buildings.
According to the information provided to our office by Prof. Zhongliang Wu, the Secretary General of the IASPEI China National Committee, immediately after the earthquake a team for rescue and seismological investigation was sent by the China Seismological Bureau (CSB) to the field. Xinjiang Seismological Bureau is also working on the organization of rescue as well as seismological /engineering/ geological investigation. Besides army soldiers, police departments and rescuers work together in the epicentral zone from different parts of Xinjiang province. All the works in the disaster area are coordinated by China Seismological Bureau.
Today, the Yerevan office of ASC and AASPE, received a letter addressed to Prof. Serguei Balassanian, the President of ASC and AASPE, from Prof. Zhongliang Wu, the Secretary General of IASPEI China National Committee, where he expresses his gratitude for the sincere condolences and immediate readiness to render any professional assistance within the abilities of ASC and AASPE.
The office of the President of ASC and AASPE Vardanants 13, Yerevan 375049, Armenia Tel/fax 374-1 544524 E-mail: aaspei@themail.com http://www.aaspei.topcities.com/aaspei/index.htm
With reference to
FACTBOX: Chronology of China's major earthquakes
BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China's most devastating earthquake in recorded history hit northern Shaanxi province in 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people. In 1995 China put into force a law to improve emergency response to earthquakes. State media reported at the time that more than 610,000 Chinese had been killed by earthquakes in that century. Earthquakes regularly rattle the vast Tibetan plateau, including Tibet itself, the far west region of Xinjiang and Qinghai province. They are also common in southwest Yunnan province and northern areas. Quakes are relatively rare in central China and along the eastern seaboard but the northwest is frequently hit by tremors. The following is a chronology of some of the biggest earthquakes in recent decades:
July 1976: At least 270,500 people die when an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale flattens the northern city of Tangshan.
April 1990: Earthquake measuring 6.9 kills 126 people in northwestern Qinghai province.
October 1995: Earthquake in Yunnan kills 50 and injures more than 6,000. The 6.5 tremor leaves 170,000 people homeless.
March 1996: Earthquake measuring 6.9 jolts Xinjiang, killing 26 people, injuring 128.
April 1997: A strong earthquake measuring 6.6 strikes Xinjiang, killing nine people and injuring 60.
January 1998: At least 47 people are killed and more than 2,000 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.2 rocks Hebei, devastating mud and brick homes in two rural counties.
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