Sichuan Earthquake in China May 12, 2008 My event is the Sichuan Earthquake in China. The earthquake occurred in 2008.

Sichuan Epicenter Location/Focus Depth The Sichuan earthquake is also known as the Wenchuan earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was 50 miles northwest of Chengdu. Chengdu is the provincial capitial. The focus depth was 19 KM. The focus depth is the depth that the earthquake started at.

Sichuan Magnitude Ratings The Sichuan earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8. Magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy released during an earthquake. On the Richter scale, a 7 to a 7.9 is defined as a major earthquake. It is estimated that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurs every 10-20 years.

Sichuan Earthquake Damage As I mentioned before, the Sichuan earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8. This means that the earthquake caused severe damage to buildings. As you can see from these pictures, many buildings collapsed and were destroyed. Thousands of homes were in lost in Sichuan because of this earthquake.

Sichuan Earthquake 2008 Fatalities and Injuries The Sichuan earthquake was very destructive. At least 87, 587 people died and at least 374,177 people were injured. In addition, 18,392 people went missing and are now presumed dead in the Chengdu.

Map of Sichuan Earthquake The Sichuan earthquake occurred in China. Sichuan is a province in southwest china. As you can see from the second picture, the epicenter of the earthquake was in wenchuan. Even though the earthquake was in southwest china, people could feel the earthquake in places like bejing and shanghai which is far way from wenchuan.

This is the world plate tectonic map This is the world plate tectonic map. The yellow star in China represents where the Sichuan earthquake occurred. As you can see from the picture, the Sichuan earthquake occurred between the Indian-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate. These two plates collided resulting in the Sichuan earthquake.

Cause of the Sichuan Earthquake The quake was caused by the collision of the Indian-Australian and Eurasian plates. The stresses produced by the northward moving Indian Australian plate actually shifted a portion of the Plateau of Tibet eastward. There were numerous aftershocks because of the collision of the plates, including a 5.0 magnitude event that struck in 2010.

Other places where this type of event could occur An earthquake like Sichuan could occur near the Eurasian plate. The Sichuan earthquake was caused by the collision of two plates (continent-continent) which is a converging collision boundary. Near the Eurasian plate, there are also converging collision plates that is continent to continent. That is why an earthquake like Sichuan could occur near the Eurasian plate.

Areas of US at risk There isn’t a convergent collision boundary in the US. The closest that I could find is a convergent boundary subduction zone. It is with the Nazca plate and south American plate. The Nazca plate is slowly converging with the south American plate. A safety precaution is to find out if you live near an active fault line.

Works Cited http://sergiu.turcanu.net/wp-content/uploads/sichuan-earthquake-map.jpg http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22398684 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67453000/gif/_67453844_sichuan_earthquake_killed_624x59 2.gif https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/2008_Sichuan_earthquake_map_no_labels.sv g http://regentsearth.com/ILLUSTRATED%20GLOSSARY/Glossary%20Pix/TectonicPlates.jpg http://landonellis.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/7/9/4079812/8219132.jpg?324 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/2008_Sichuan_earthquake_map_no_l abels.svg/2000px-2008_Sichuan_earthquake_map_no_labels.svg.png http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00799/sichuan-earthquake4_799508c.jpg http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/equake/aftershocks_20100518.png Questions?