More than 36-hundred aftershocks have been detected in affected areas following last week's magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Dingri County in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. A leading expert says the area is part of an "active" zone that also needs to watch out for impacts of glaciers and other environmental elements. Sun Ye has more.
The epicenter of the earthquake last week was only around 75 kilometers away from the peak of Mount Qomolangma. On the map that Professor Li Dewen shows us, the dots represent an incomplete count of earthquakes the area has experienced over the past century.
LI DEWEN, Professor, National Institute of Natural Hazards "There are two major seismic belts globally - one is Circo-Pacific belt , and the other is the Mediterranean-Himalayan seismic belt. The Dingri earthquake area belongs to the Mediterranean-Himalayan seismic belt, which is quite active. This fault earthquake occurred slightly on the edge of the seismic belt. It is a very active seismic zone."
Glacial lakes and glaciers are widespread in Xizang's earthquake-affected areas. Li warns that strong ground shaking could trigger the bursting of glacial lakes and the glacier surge, which could be another type of potential disaster risk.
LI DEWEN, Professor, National Institute of Natural Hazards "Remote sensing data has shown that some glaciers on the eastern slope of Mount Qomolangma in the southern part of the earthquake zone have displayed significant characteristics of surging glaciers. I'm paying attention to the unique nature of this earthquake because beyond traditional tectonic analysis, there might be other mechanisms at work, such as the effect of glaciers. For instance, glacial-isostatic-adjustment—imagine that originally glaciers filled the valley, but after glacial melting, it tends to cause adjustments and imbalances and may even trigger earthquakes."
Li said that through deeper understanding of local conditions, disaster prevention and mitigation measures will become more detailed and more tailored to the local situation. Sun Ye, CGTN, Beijing.