M6.6 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEAR YA’AN CITY, SICHUAN

PROVINCE, CHINAUPDATE 5

APRIL 24, 2013

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia,

USA 

DAY 1

THE DIMENSIONS OF A DISASTER UNFOLD IN A MATTER OF MINUTES TO HOURS, BUT THE DETAILS ARE UNCERTAIN FOR DAYS TO WEEKS

8:02 AM, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013

• The M 6.6 earthquake was generated by rupture on the same fault zone that generated the May 2008 earthquake.

• The earthquake struck a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province near Ya’an City (pop. 1.5 million) on Saturday morning killing at least 208 and injuring about 12,000.

LOCATION MAP

YA’AN CITY: 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE

SHALLOW DEPTH

• The earthquake was generated by rupture further south than in 2008 on the Longmanshan fault zone, the same fault zone that ruptured in the May 2008 earthquake.

• A relatively shallow focal depth of 12 km (7.5 miles) made the ground shaking more destructive.

EPICENTER CLOSE TO THE MAY 12, 2008 QUAKE’S EPICENTER

• The epicenter was close to the epicenter of the MUCH LARGER M8.0 earthquake that killed 88,000 people and damaged millions of buildings on May 12, 2008.

Premier Li Keqiang flew to Ya'an to direct rescue efforts,

and, seeking to avoid the huge death toll of 2008, he and

President Xi Jinping ordered officials and rescuers to make saving people the top priority

CAUSE OF THE DISASTER:: THE SAME AS IN 2008--

INADEQUATE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INADEQUATE BUILDING

CODE

INITIAL REACTIONS

• When the earthquake occurred, many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.

• People in their underwear and wrapped in blankets ran into the streets of Ya'an and even in the provincial capital of Chengdu, 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Lushan.

BUILDINGS WERE NOT CONSTRUCTED TO WITHSTAND

THE STRONG GROUND SHAKING, WHICH REPORTEDLY LASTED A

MINUTE IN LONGMAN

INITIAL IMPACTS

• The earthquake toppled buildings, triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections and water service in mountainous Lushan county.

• The village of Longman was hit particularly hard, with nearly all the buildings being destroyed.

Pandas panicked during the earthquake, but the well-

known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is 50 km

from the epicenter, was not damaged by the quake.

DAMAGE

QINGREN TOWNSHIP: DESPERATE RESCUE EFFORTS

DAMAGE

EVACUATING WITH BARE NECESSITIES

BAOSHENG TOWNSHIP: CHILDREN IN EVACUATION CENTER

Day 2:SUNDAY, APRIL 21

A DAY OF FRUSTRATION

FACTORS CAUSING THE FRUSTRATION

• RAIN, LANDSLIDES, IMPASSABLE ROADS, TRAFFIC JAMS, DEBRIS, AFTERSHOCKS, AND RESTRICTIONS SLOWED SEARCH AND RESCUE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE, - - -

• AS TIME ON THE “48 HOUR GOLDEN PERIOD FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE CLOCK” TICKED AWAY.

LANDSLIDE

LANDSLIDE

THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT CHOOSES NOT TO ACCEPT

OFFERS OF INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE AND ALLOCATED 3 MILLION YUAN ($480,400) TO

SEARCH AND RESCUE AND RELIEF EFFORTS.

The government had mobilized thousands of soldiers and others

— 7,000 people by Saturday afternoon, 18,000 by Sunday — sending excavators and other

heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency

supplies

THE REALITY

• Along the main roads, ambulances, fire engines and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable.

• To move, rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across roads, or to run past them.

FATAL ACCIDENT :TWO RESCUE WORKERS FALL OFF CLIFF

RESCUERS HAD TO RUN PAST ROCK FALLS ON WAY TO STRICKEN AREA

LUSHAN: ROCK FALL, SURVIVORS, AND RESCUERS MEET

TRAFFIC

WATER SUPPLY DANGEROUSLY LOW

• Even as Chinese Red Cross’ relief teams with supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue equipment were moving as quickly as possible to the disaster areas, officials were predicting that drinking water in Ya’an City area would run out in 3 days.

PART OF 48 HOUR “GOLDEN PERIOD” FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE UNAVAILABLE

• With roads blocked for several hours by landslides, the military surveyed the disaster area by air while waiting.

• Aerial photos showed individual houses in ruins in Lushan, outlying villages flattened into rubble, and the roofs of some taller buildings shaken off, exposing the floors beneath them.

AERIAL VIEW OF DAMAGE

OVERWHELMED BY THE DISASTER

SURVIVORS SLEEP OUTSIDE

• Fearing further damage from aftershocks, wary survivors slept in cars or makeshift beds outside their damaged homes in Ya’an City and Longman.

STUDENTS SLEPT IN CAR TO MINIMIZE AFTERSHOCK DANGER

LIVING IN MAKE-SHIFT TENTS

PREPARING TO SLEEP OUTSIDE

SEARCH AND RESCUE UNDERWAY

SEARCH AND RESCUE: LUSHAN

EVACUATION OF A SUVIVOR

YA’AN: AN EMERGENCY RELIEF CENTER

Day 3:MONDAY, APRIL 22

DESPERATE SEARCH AND RESCUE CONTINUES AS THE “GOLDEN PERIOD”

ENDS, AND TIMELY EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO MEET BASIC NEEDS

INTENSIFIES

HELPING 1.72 MILLION PEOPLE

• On Monday, relief and rescue efforts continued in the broad area around Ya’an City in Sichuan Province, where, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 1.72 million people were impacted.

STUDENTS, UNCERTAIN ABOUT THEIR SAFETY, MEET OUTSIDE

FINALLY, rescuers on foot reached Baoxing County, the area hardest hit by the quake, at 1 p.m. Monday.

RESCUE CREWS REACH BAOXING COUNTY

A RESCUE

In the race to find survivors in the rubble before it was too late,

rescue workers had to contend with over 2,000 aftershocks that threatened every hour to trigger

new landslides and topple already

damaged buildings.

A RESCUE: YA’AN

LUSHAN COUNTY: RESTORING WATER SUPPLY

• Some of the water supply in Lushan County, the district where the quake's epicenter was located, was restored, reducing the potential crisis and providing about 100,000 residents with water when needed most.

FIRST CALL FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL

DONATIONS

The high point of Chinese philanthropy was reached after the May 2008

earthquake, which devastated large sections of Sichuan and nearby

provinces, wiping out entire villages, killing 88,000, and injuring many more.

DAYS 4-5:

SEARCH AND RESCUE EFFORTS ENDING

RELIEF EFFORTS INTENSIFY WITH A FOCUS ON THE NEEDS OF THE

HOMELESS AND NEEDY SURVIVORS

RESCUE EFFORTS

• Rescue crews rescued 150 survivors from the collapsed buildings during the “golden 72-hour period.”

SCOPE OF CURRENT RELIEF EFFORTS

• Power was restored to 179,600 households affected by the earthquake, leaving about 7,000 without electricity.

• After setting up 1,151 tents, crews are beginning to set up 30,000 more that have just arrived.

• 1,827 tons of water have arrived in the area for distribution.

BAOSHENG TOWNSHIP: TEMPORARY TENTS

PRELIMINARY DIRECT ECONOMIC LOSS:

MORE THAN 10 BILLION YUAN (USD $1.6 BILLION)