Earthquake!

[imron]

About 20 minutes ago, our building here in Beijing started rocking and swaying, and a whole bunch of people evacuated from it. Apparently there was a big earthquake in Sichuan? Anyone have any more details?

[Lu]

The earthquake was all the way in Sichuan, but here in Taipei the building was swaying lightly, and it seemed to last forever. If I could feel it all the way in Taiwan, it must be pretty bad in Sichuan... I hope Muyongshi is ok.

[roddy]

Sina has a 7.6 earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan

and a whole bunch of people evacuated from it.

Except the valiant Imron, who stayed put to keep us informed, at great personal risk. Yay Imron!

[imron]

BBC reports 7.5, and Washington Post 7.8. Google news now appears to be blocked too. Didn't take them long

Edit: Or maybe not. It's accessible again.

[cdn_in_bj]

Yeah this one lasted quite a bit - it took me a while to figure out what was going on. The last earthquake here (that could be felt in Beijing) about 2 years ago was much shorter. A 7 magnitude quake range is pretty serious. I guess we can only hope for the best and wait for more news to come out.

[roddy]

Well, in the best tradition of rolling 24-hour news, here is some footage of other earthquakes. Wenchuan is where the Wulong Nature Reserve is, so lets hope no pandas got shaken out of their trees.

And according to the USG, the earthquake struck 150km WSW of Muyongshi.

[roddy]

Sina has a dedicated page up, with pictures of evacuated office workers in every Chinese city except the one that was actually hit by the earthquake.

[yingguoguy]

I'm about 150km east of Chengdu and we definately felt it here. It was pretty strong, but not enough to do any real damage, BBC puts it about 57km north west of Chengdu. Surprised that it could be felt in Beijing.

[imron]

Except the valiant Imron, who stayed put to keep us informed, at great personal risk.

Nope, we all left, myself included. My post was made after the earth stopped wobbling and we all moved back inside.

[roddy]

Wen Jiabao is on his way to take control, very good. And Chengdu's airport is closed, for no good reason:

由于受到地震影响，成都双流国际机场目前已经关闭

成都双流国际机场方面表示，目前机场没有受到影响

Figure that out if you can . . .

[randall_flagg]

you all remember what earthquakes meant in ancient china, right?

[imron]

The China Earthquake Administration has apparently also issued a warning that this evening between 10 and 12 Beijing may experience a 2-6 degree aftershock.

[randall_flagg]

imron, can you post a link for that warning?

[Lu]

由于受到地震影响，成都双流国际机场目前已经关闭

成都双流国际机场方面表示，目前机场没有受到影响

Figure that out if you can . . .

Give them a break, it happened barely three hours ago, better safe than sorry.

[roddy]

Yeah, that was a bit harsh - it was just the 'because of the earthquake . . . we haven't been affected by the earthquake' thing.

I don't think they can predict aftershocks that closely yet - did the warning arrive by SMS perchance?

[randall_flagg]

I agree with Lu! Just imagine if it were the other way around, everybody would be onto the Chinese government: why was the airport not closed? Let them close it, double check everything and then reopen it. Works for me.

[imron]

imron, can you post a link for that warning?

The administration's website is down (probably due to traffic overload), however Chinese news sources such as Sohu are reporting it.

[Lu]

roddy: I agree that it looks kinda funny, but I guess the priority for news outlets right now is 'get news out' rather than 'check if the articles are well-written and consistent'. If tomorrow's paper newspapers contain that kind of sentences, then there is some ground for sniggering.

[randall_flagg]

thanks, imron.

[889]

The USGS has already reported several strong aftershocks, a 6 on the Richter Scale at 2:43 pm local time, a 5.2 at 4:10, and a 4.9 at 4:26, among others.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php