Nearly 400 Dead in SW China After M6.5 Earthquake

From dailymail.co.uk:

A strong earthquake in southern China's Yunnan province has killed at least 381 people and injured more than 1,800.

The 6.5 magnitude earthquake caused some buildings, including a school, to collapse in the remote mountainous region and 181 people are still missing.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered at a shallow depth of less than 1 mile (1.6 km).

Fu ll Article w/ Photos and Video

My respects to those who were killed in this quake. It reminds me that there is much more than simply the magnitude of an EQ that contributes to its damaging effects.

a reply to: Aqualung2012
We're just waking up here on the east coast of the US. You'll start to get replays on this soon. It's 6:22 AM. Shallow depth seems to contribute to the destruction though I'm certainly not even an armchair expert on earthquakes. True American should be along to explain the dynamics of this quake.
My heartfelt sympathies to all the people affected . Be safe. Good luck.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

WHAT exactly can cause such a narly quake at only a couple thousand feet down? thought those stayed under 4ish and even those were pretty mean that shallow..

I've been hearing about a ton of earthquakes in china as of late, i wonder, have they adopted fracking like us? and does russia have to frack? how exactly do they retrieve their immense amounts of natural gas? if it is fracking have their earthquakes increased in frequency as well?

a reply to: Aqualung2012

In 1970, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in Yunnan killed at least 15,000 people, and a magnitude-7.1 quake in the province killed more than 1,400 in 1974. In September 2012, 81 people died and 821 were injured in a series of quakes in the Yunnan region.

In May 2008, a powerful quake in Sichuan province left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.

englishnews.thaipbs.or.th...

In the North of Thailand for the last couple of years (since 2005) around Chang Rai and Chang Mai there have been several small to medium earth quakes which has really started people to think and move. Many good property deals around there.. The problem is none of the houses were designed to withstand earth quakes (mostly non reinforced cinder block construction) simply because they just hardly ever had anything over a 5.0. Thailand sits along 13 major fault lines that regularly shake, recently in the past few years these fault lines have become more and more active with a 5.1 in 2006 in Chang Mai.. Every few years it seems the Asian continent shakes like a big dog coming out of a pond. With the prevalent cinder block construction methods favored in building structures it is little wonder why there is such a lost of life when anything above a 6.0 gets to going.

a reply to: 727Sky

DONT call it a cinder block lol. its like calling a marine a soldier to someone in the masonry industry. IDK why but i noticed since day one anyone who ever said cinder block got immediately reamed by anyone in ear shot.

its a concrete block if you were wondering lol. or masonry unit that encompasses everything if your trying to have discussions without having to describe every single piece.

i honestly couldn't give 2 poops as i just called them a cinder block about a week ago to my father.... and got reamed lol.

hmm im gonna keep googling cause it is china we are talking about i suppose they could be made out of volcanic ash hence the term cinder block? maybe? (disclaimer* this is my pre coffee hypothesis of the day lol)

a reply to: mindseye1609

just did some reading and video watching and in china a lot of times they use smallish machines to actually form the block on site...... thats not good. here in america we have RIGID standards on block making and companies have to be held accountable always. same goes for mortar.

we also build buildings earthquake and hurricane and tornado proof in areas that dont even have those problems... then in those areas that DO have those problems we go wayyyyyy overboard just to make sure. modern construction in the US is pretty awesome. id recommend walmart to hide in if you HAVE to run somewhere else to hide, they build their stores all the same from what I've been told. all to the strictest codes in the nation. i heard guys talking on a walmart job about how it was reinforced more then twice as much as a recent prison they built lol... as the quakes come we will just keep seeing less and less damage as old buildings get torn down and replaced.

as for china... like you said, probably going to just keep happening, they use very little grout and rebar reinforcing in the majority of their construction along with shotty materials this is a recipe for disaster in earthquakes.

Yes, you take an active seismic region, fill it with sub standard structures, then fill THOSE with too many people, and watch bad things happen.

This is one of several examples which highlight our antiquated and superficial relationship with our planet. Sad part is that we know this stuff by now, but continue to play the game of chance with Nature... Forgetting that the house always wins.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

And the death toll keeps rising.

Thanks for keeping us posted.

My condolences to those lost their loved ones in the quake.

P.S. I saw a related story in the OP's link that Israel bombed another refugee center.

Sad times.