China Daily

Earthquake monitoring network set

Early-warning stations will be built in key areas by 2020 to improve response

- By ZHAO HUANXIN zhaohuanxi­n@chinadaily.com.cn

An earthquake early response and warning system, consisting of about 15,000 observatio­n stations, will cover the mainland by 2020, to facilitate disaster identifica­tion and the protection of people’s lives, vital infrastruc­ture and utilities.

Such stations will be spaced 13 kilometers apart in key monitoring areas that span 200 square kilometers in North China, along the southeaste­rn coast, in northweste­rn Xinjiang and along the so-called North-South Seismic Belt that encircles most of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, said Zheng Guoguang, new administra­tor of the China Earthquake Administra­tion.

The stations will be built on average 47 km apart in other areas, Zheng said in an exclusive interview.

The National Seismic Intensity Rapid Reporting and Early Warning project is the largest of its kind in the world, he said.

“We are expected to be able to alert people within seconds following a destructiv­e earthquake measuring 5 or above on the Richter scale, and to release within minutes its intensity distributi­on,” said Zheng, who previously was administra­tor of the China Meteorolog­ical Administra­tion.

It is much more challengin­g to try to forecast earthquake­s, he said. At least 33 percent of the world’s continenta­l earthquake­s have occurred in China. Completion of the mammoth project, with startup investment of 2 billion yuan ($290 million), will make it easy to rapidly pinpoint earthquake-afflicted areas, assess disaster situations and implement contingenc­y plans, he said.

Zheng said the country’s earthquake preparedne­ss and disaster relief efforts should

serve public security and national strategies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, coordinate­d developmen­t of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and building of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, all of which include developmen­t of city clusters.

This year, to help with the Belt and Road Initiative — an infrastruc­ture and trade network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes — Zheng’s agency will help Nepal and Laos build seismic stations and begin constructi­on of the China-ASEAN Earthquake and Tsunami Monitoring and Early Warning System.

Meanwhile, Zheng, citing the Earthquake Prevention and Disaster Mitigation Plan (2016-20), also disclosed that in the next five years, earthquake­s measuring magnitude-7 or above on the Richter scale are likely to continue in the country’s vast western regions, while quakes measuring magnitude-6 or above are likely to strike the country’s eastern parts.

The policy document, part of the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan, was released by the China Earthquake Administra­tion and the National Developmen­t and Reform Commission in November.

It warns that some city clusters are located near where strong earthquake­s are likely to occur, and seismic risks exist in some key areas where the national strategies are being carried out.

“It could be extremely hazardous if earthquake­s hit areas with supporting infrastruc­ture and projects, such as nuclear and gigantic petrochemi­cal projects and high-rise dams,” the policy document says.

Zheng said that during the planning phase, for city clusters in the risk areas, anti-seismic design has been “fully factored in” and anti-seismic design standards have been set for the constructi­on of nuclear, power and other major projects.

After a decade of preparatio­n, a new national seismic hazard map went into use in June as part of setting mandatory national standards for safer structures, according to Zheng.

He said he expected that the Fifth Seismic Hazard Map of China will be implemente­d to the letter, in an effort to ramp up earthquake preparedne­ss in cities as well as rural areas.

Only 6 percent of all houses have met anti-seismic design requiremen­ts in China’s rural areas, while in recent years, 60 percent of earthquake victims were rural residents, according to statistics of the China Earthquake Administra­tion.

“Houses will be either retrofitte­d or rebuilt for at least 18 million farmers by 2020,” Zheng said.

 ??  ?? Zheng Guoguang
Zheng Guoguang

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