Don’t panic, the earth has not entered an “active period”
Question: Why do earthquakes seem to occur more frequently recently? Has the earth entered a "shaking" mode?
Answer: Let’s look at a set of data: Since 1900, there have been an average of 133 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above, 20 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, and 1 earthquake of magnitude 8 or above. Judging from the actual situation in recent years, global seismic activity levels have been relatively low since 2019. In 2020, there were 89 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above, 10 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, and no earthquakes of magnitude above 8; in 2021, there were 115 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above, 19 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, and one earthquake of magnitude 8 or above. . In 2022, there were 112 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above, 7 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, and no earthquakes of magnitude 8 or above. Judging from the data, the frequency of earthquakes in recent years has been lower than the annual average since 1900.
Question: Not long ago, an earthquake also occurred in Sanshui, Foshan, Guangdong. Does "Lao Guang" need to worry about this?
Answer: Guangdong Province is located in the seismic zone of the southeastern coast of China. The junction of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi, and the junction of Guangdong, Guangxi and Qiong near the southeast coast have relatively strong tectonic activities and active earthquakes. They are the main areas of strong earthquake activity in South China. However, the South China block was relatively stable during the neotectonic movement.
Since 1970, a total of 37 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or above have occurred in Guangdong Province and offshore areas, with an average of approximately 0.7 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or above per year. The seismic protection requirements for buildings in Guangdong are 6 to 8 degrees Celsius. Therefore, theoretically, the risk of disaster caused by an earthquake of about magnitude 5 is very low.
"For the public, as long as they have a correct understanding of earthquakes and have the necessary knowledge to avoid earthquakes, they don't have to worry too much." said Wang Liwei, deputy director of the Guangdong Seismological Observatory.
Families can keep four types of emergency supplies on hand
Q: How can we prepare for earthquakes?
Answer: Luo Zheng, Director of the Mine Safety Supervision and Earthquake Geological Disaster Rescue Department of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Emergency Management, suggested that we can prepare some necessary emergency supplies at home, mainly including 4 aspects: drinking water, food, including children's milk powder, etc.; emergency items : Life-saving whistle for calling for help, personal use Clean towels, paper towels, hand-operated rechargeable flashlights with radio function, etc.; Emergency tools: insulation blankets, fire blankets, multi-functional scissors, emergency escape ropes, respiratory masks, etc.; Emergency medicines: anti-infection, cold, diarrhea medicines, band-aids, Gauze bandages and other materials used for bandaging, iodophor cotton swabs used for disinfection, etc. These supplies should be replaced regularly.
Luo Zheng said that after an earthquake, whether people in distress can take effective evasive actions as soon as possible often determines whether they can survive. He called on the public to master necessary self-rescue and mutual-rescue skills in normal times.
This article is reproduced from [Henan Daily Client]
