Monitoring of quakes affected in past 10 years

Earthquake monitoring stations in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province have been damaged or tampered with 96 times in the past 10 years.

Fifty- nine of the incidents involved various forms of sabotage and 37 incidents involved interference with the monitoring environment, news site thepaper. cn reported Monday.

The Sichuan Earthquake Administration told thepaper. cn that farmers at times tie cows on the equipment, and when the cows move, they move the equipment as well, so the data would be inaccurate.

The agency said its staff usually examines the monitoring sites once a month.

But it said the monitoring equipment have never been deliberately damaged. The damages are caused by negligence and a lack of understanding of earthquake monitoring.

Sichuan has been building earthquake surveillance equipment since the 1970s, said Li Guixian, head of the agency’s monitoring and forecasting department, noting that the province is home to more than 600 monitoring stations, and their data is crucial to earthquake forecasting.

The stations are usually located in sparsely populated areas to avoid interference. However, the stations usually have to give way to urbanization.

Some places in Sichuan are located in the quake- prone area known as the Longmenshan fracture belt, and considered one of China’s most active quake zones.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake jolted Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan on August 8, killing 25 and injuring 525.

In May 2008, an 8.0- magnitude earthquake struck Wenchuan in Sichuan.