BEIJING (Reuters) – At least 126 people were killed in Tibet by this week’s earthquake of magnitude 6.8, the fifth-deadliest since 2008, data from China’s National Earthquake Data Center shows.
Quakes are common in China’s areas of Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan, especially on the edges of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau above the plate boundaries where the earth’s crust is more prone to movement.
A quake of magnitude 8.0 that killed 69,227 people in May 2008 was one of China’s deadliest natural disasters in decades.
Here are some of China’s deadliest earthquakes since 2008:
APRIL 14, 2010
Magnitude: 7.1
Epicentre: Yushu county, Qinghai
The strong quake in the northwestern province of Qinghai killed at least 2,698, many of them ethnic Tibetans, with 270 missing.
AUGUST 3, 2014
Magnitude: 6.5
Epicentre: Ludian county, Yunnan
The quake struck a mountainous area in southwestern Yunnan province, killing 617 and injuring more than 3,000. More than 60,000 houses crumpled, with nearly 230,000 people having to be relocated.
APRIL 20, 2013
Magnitude: 7.0
Epicentre: Lushan county, Sichuan
The quake that struck Lushan killed 196 and injured 14,785 with two missing. A total of more than 2 million people were affected.
JULY 22, 2013
Magnitude: 6.6
Epicentre: Minxian and Zhangxian counties, Gansu
The earthquake hit eight towns in the remote, mountainous counties, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Lanzhou, killing at least 95 people and injuring more than 1,000.
SEPT. 5, 2022
Magnitude: 6.8
Epicentre: Luding county, Sichuan
At least 93 people died and 25 were missing after the earthquake hit Luding in the southwestern province.
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
