Geography Project
Sichuan Earthquake
“China should learn from Japan to
minimize earthquakes destruction in
China in the future”
Group 2
Fiona Kam F.4A(19)
Agatha Ng F.4A(30)
Vanessa Pang F.4A(31)
Joanne Li F.4C ( 22 )
“China should learn from Japan to minimize
earthquakes destruction in China in the future”
1. Which plate movement led to Sichuan
Earthquake?
2. What were the physical factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
3. What were the human factors that led to such
disastrous impact?
4. What has the government done to minimize
earthquakes destruction in future?
5. What can we learn from developed countries
to minimize earthquake destruction?
Which plate movement led to
Sichuan Earthquake?
Which plate movement led to Sichuan
Earthquake?
• China is located along the destructive plate
boundary( circum-pacific belt).
• Because of compression force generated from
sinking convection current in the asthenosphere,
• The Indo-Australian plate( continental plate)
collided with the Eurasian Plate( Continental
plate). When the two plates converge, the denser
Indo-Australian Plate subducted,
• compression force would create friction and
stress in the crust.
Which plate movement led to Sichuan
Earthquake?
• Cracks are developed
• Faulting occurred due to the cracks.
• Earthquake occurred along the Longmenshan
fault.
• When the accumulated stress was larger then the
strength of rock mass,
• energy was then released and sent out at seismic
waves through the crust causing violent vibration
in the crust.
• Sichuan Earthquake occurred
What were the physical factors that led to such
disastrous impact?
• High magnitude
-Richter scale: 8
• Shallow focus
-19km to 20km
• Long duration
• -80s to 120s
• More aftershocks
-six aftershocks measured 6 or over on the Richter scale
 caused the collapse of weakened structures
 led to further loss of life and property
• Short distance from epicenter (Wenchuan)
-it is 80km away from Chengdu, the capital centre of Sichuan
• Large affected regions
-over 100000 sq.km
What were the physical factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
• Relief
-hilly, mountainous
1) led to landslide
the landslide materials blocked roads
• the communication links was broken down
• there were damages to hospital and utility works
 caused difficulties in sending relief supplies to
the affected areas
 make relief work more difficult
slowed down relief work
What were the physical factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
• Time
-afternoon 2:28
{ lots of indoor activities }
e.g. children were learning at schools
adults were working
• Related hazards are caused
1)landslide
2) flooding
-due to the serious landslides in many hill slopes
that cause by the Sichuan earthquake,
-The slope materials blocked the rivers, forming dams.
-These created 34 huge lakes behind these dams could be
breached at any time.
and thus flooding occurs.
What were the human factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
• High population density
-population: around 84million
-area: around 480000km sq.
 population density: 84million/480000
= 175
Therefore, the population density of Sichuan is
high.
What were the human factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
• Low social awareness
1) education
• Sichuan had 42 institutions of high learning
schools
• 5000 specialized, regular and coeducational
secondary schools with 450 000 students and
• 250 000 teachers
• Normal Schools with 250 000 students and
20000 teachers
What were the human factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
-the proportion student who could receive
education is low
- even if they were sent to school, they might
not be taught about what they should do
before, during and after a hazard, especially
about earthquakes.
-regular large-scale earthquake drills for the
general public were hardly held
What were the human factors that led to
such disastrous impact?
• Low government efficiency
( but improved compared to 7.28 Tongshan
Earthquake) it took 4 days and nights to start the
rescue work for Tongshan Earthquake but it took
less than an hour for to start the rescue work for
the Sichuan Earthquake
• No efficient monitoring/ warning system
- cannot predict the time and place of occurrence
accurately as well as the scale of possible
earthquakes.
 Therefore, the government can’t immediately take
action to warn the people to escape to a safer place
What has the government done to
minimize earthquakes destruction in
future?
• Eliminated the tofu-dregs schoolhouses
as there were corruption on the
resources allocation on building the
schools
Implemented laws governing the height
and structure of buildings
What has the government done to
minimize earthquakes destruction in
future?
•
•
•
•
Increased the number of rescue team
Planned to hold more earthquake drills
assigning round-the-clock workers
ensuring open routes of transportation to the
areas devastated by the earthquake
• asking people to donate money or material
supplies
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
Improve the transport network as to improve the relief
work:
• as rescue helicopters had trouble landing into the
epicenter area in Wenchuan,
we can propose a landing spot online as the first
touchdown place for the helicopters
• as the soldiers found it very difficult to get help to the
rural regions of the province,
gov. can build more roads on the rural region in order
to improve the relief work with an evacuation route
with adequate road signs should be established at
urban-planning stage
-
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Provide more education to the people and
drills to increase the social awareness:
- In Japan, students are taught about what
they should do before during and after a
hazard
the teachers in Sichuan and China can
teach the students how to do when
earthquake occurred
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Education:
• Japan provides schemes for the residents to join
that provides the information of how to evacuate
when earthquake occurred
China can also provide schemes
For example:
• <<To Protect Your Family from Injury>>
• <<Discuss Evacuation Plans with Your Family in
Advance>>
• <<Prepare Items to Take Out in Case of
Emergency>>
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Education:
• The officials should educate the village
heads in Sichuan how to evacuate when
earthquake occurred
 the village heads can teach the residents
(farmers)
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Education:
• Put some Big Characters or propaganda with
how to prepared for the earthquake on the
notice board of the villages
• Train the rescue team more frequently
• China can learn from Japan that have regular
large-scale earthquake drills with the
residents in Sichuan for the evacuation of
earthquake
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Improve land use planning:
-build/reserve for large open spaces for
evacuation
For Example:
Build a recreational park
for people to relax and play
in case of emergency (e.g. earthquake
happen), people can evacuate to the park
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• Improve land use planning:
-build earthquake-proof buildings for school
instead of tofu-dregs schoolhouses
• In order to avoid to build tofu-dregs
schoolhouses
• Implement laws governing the height and
structure of buildings should be imposed
• Each building has to pass tests for hazard
such as earthquakes
In Japan and USA build earthquake-proof
buildings for schools, houses and universities
What can we learn from the MDC to
minimize the damages of earthquake?
• In Japan,
- Government buy insurance for the residents
that live in a particular area which always
happen earthquake
China can also buy insurance for the
residents in Sichuan
Difficulties in implementing the
measures
• China is a less
developed country
- It has to use a large
part of capital to
develop industries
 Government may
not put capital on
minimizing the
damages of
earthquakes
Reflection
Through this project, we had learnt more about
earthquakes, especially the Sichuan earthquake.
We can know more about why the earthquake
happened, the physical and human factors that
caused such serious dangers in the earthquake.
Besides, we have also thought of some
measures that Sichuan and the Chinese
government can take to minimize dangers
caused by earthquakes. However, Chinese
government may not be able to carry out all
these solutions since some of them are costly
and require a longer time.
The End
~Thank You~