2008 Yingjiang earthquakes
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Yingjiang Earthquakes were a series of major earthquakes ranging from surface wave magnitude
Surface wave magnitude
The surface wave magnitude scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements in Rayleigh surface waves that travel primarily along the uppermost layers of the earth...

 (Ms) 4.1 to 5.9 that struck Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

 province, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 between August 19 (in UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

; August 20 local time) and September 3, 2008. It caused 5 deaths, 21 serious injuries, and RMB
Renminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...

 2.7 billion in direct economic damage. USGS put the magnitude of the strongest one to Mw 6.0.

Earthquake Details

According to the China Earthquake Administration
China Earthquake Administration
The China Earthquake Administration , is mandated by the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protecting Against and Mitigating Earthquake Disasters of PRC to enforce the earthquake administration in the nation under the administration of State Council of the People's Republic of China.Some...

 (CEA) and its subordinate China Earthquake Network Center (CENC), a Ms 5.0 earthquake struck Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

 province, China on August 20, 2008 at 05:35:09 China Standard Time (CST - 2135 UTC, August 19, 2008). A CEA report published on September 17 described two additional strong quakes of Ms 4.9 and Ms 5.9 in the same area the following day; CENC's data base, on the other hand, did not include the earthquake of Ms 4.9 at 20:20 CST on August 21 as the CEA report described, but reveals additional ones after the date.

Sequence of earthquakes

# CST UTC Place Lat. Long. Ms
Surface wave magnitude
The surface wave magnitude scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements in Rayleigh surface waves that travel primarily along the uppermost layers of the earth...

1 2008-08-20 05:35:09 2008-08-19 21:35:09 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

25.1 97.9 5.0
2 2008-08-21 20:20 2008-08-21 12:20 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

25.1 97.9 4.9
3 2008-08-21 20:24:32 2008-08-21 12:24:32 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

25.1 97.9 5.9
4 2008-08-22 20:06:14 2008-08-22 12:35:09 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

25.0 97.9 4.7
5 2008-09-03 02:59:18 2008-09-02 18:59:18 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

24.9 97.9 4.1
6 2008-09-03 14:27:20 2008-09-03 06:27:20 Yingjiang
Yingjiang County
Yingjiang County is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwestern China.- Geography :Yingjiang county has a border of 214.6 km with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. Danzha River and Binglangjiang River meet each other near Jiucheng and change the name to Dayingjiang...

, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

24.9 97.9 4.8


Note: Earthquakes #4 and after are not included in CEA summary; earthquake #2 is unaccounted for in CENC data base.

Response, casualties, and intensities

According to CEA, these earthquakes caused 5 deaths and 21 serious injuries. Through Yunnan Earthquake Administration (YNEA), the provincial government invoked Level IV emergence response protocol in the relief. Affected people amounted to 209,605, roughly 2/3 of the total population in affected areas. Direct financial damages amounted to RMB 1.3 billion. In addition to building damages, the heaviest infrastructure damages occurred to water resources facilities.

On the seismic intensity map published by CEA, maximum intensity of these earthquakes reached liedu VIII on China Seismic Intensity Scale
China Seismic Intensity Scale
The China Seismic Intensity Scale is a national standard in the People's Republic of China used to measure seismic intensity. Similar to EMS-92 on which CSIS drew reference, seismic impacts are classified into 12 degrees of intensity, or liedu in Roman numerals from I for insensible to XII for...

 (CSIS), which is somewhat equivalent to VIII (Heavily damaging) on EMS-94
European Macroseismic Scale
The European Macroseismic Scale is the basis for evaluation of seismic intensity in European countries and is also used in a number of countries outside Europe...

from which CSIS drew reference. Liedu-VIII zone spans 26 km2 near the epicenter. Total area of liedu VI (Slightly damaging) and above is a north-south oval of 4,511 km2.
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