Earthquakes in China

　　China — a Country of Many Earthquakes

    China locates between the two largest seismic belts, i.e. the circum-Pacific seismic belt and the circum-Indian seismic belt. Squeezed by the Pacific plate, the Indian plate and the Philippine plate, the seismic fracture zones are well developed in this area. Ever since we entered the 20th century, more than 800 earthquakes of more than magnitude 6 have happened in China. Earthquakes have happened in almost all the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions except in Guizhou, Zhejiang and Hong Kong.
    Earthquakes occurring in China were characterized by their high frequencies, seismic intensity, shallow epicenter and wide distributions. China, as a matter of fact, is a country with many earthquakes. Ever since 1900, over 550,000 people died in earthquakes in China, which takes up 53% of the total casualties in earthquakes around the world. Ever since 1949, more than 100 destructive earthquakes have happened in the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China, among which 14 of them are provinces in East China. These earthquakes caused the death of more than 270,000 people, which took up 54% of the total death toll caused by natural disasters in China. The earthquake stricken districts cover an area of 300,000 square kilometers and more than 7 million rooms were destroyed by earthquakes. The earthquakes and other natural calamities are becoming the main threats to China in peaceful time.