Expert: Wenchuan earthquake as huge as Tangshan earthquake in 1976

    BEIJING, May 13 -- The strength of this earthquake is being compared to the destructive force of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which killed tens of thousands. Seismologists are urging calm and telling the public not to believe rumors about more earthquakes.

    Jiang Haikun says the energy from the Wenchuan earthquake was as huge as the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, which killed 240,000 people.

    Jiang Haikun, China Seismological Network Center, said, "The strength of the earthquake is big and it has released a huge amount of energy so that many parts of the country felt the quake."

    He emphasized that Beijing did not experience a separate earthquake.

    Jiang Haiku said, "The quake we felt in Beijing today was not a separate earthquake. It was just the aftershocks from the Wenchuan earthquake in the afternoon."

    Jiang Haikun also says his center's research shows China and its neighbors are currently in a relatively-active period for earthquakes.

    Jiang Haiku said, "For example, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake occurred in Japan recently. On the Chinese mainland, a 6.9 magnitude quake took place in Tibet in January, while March saw a 7.3 magnitude quake in Yutian in Xinjiang and now we have a 7.8 magnitude quake in Wenchuan. So at the moment there is a trend of earthquakes in China's mainland and its neighboring countries."

    He also urged residents not to trust rumors they heard. He stressed no destructive earthquake near Beijing is likely to occur in the near future.

    (Source: CCTV.com)

British seismologist explains cause of earthquake in Sichuan

    LONDON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A magnitude 7.8 earthquake which occurred on Monday in China's Sichuan province appears to have been due to thrusting on a NE-SW fault, a seismoligist here said.

    "Today's earthquake appears to have been due to thrusting on a NE-SW fault," Dr Brian Baptie at British Geological Survey (BGS) told Xinhua in an telephone interview. Full story

China's Hu says quake relief government's top priority

    BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese leader Hu Jintao urged governments at all levels to regard earthquake rescue and relief as the top priority at a high profile meeting late Monday evening.

    Hu, state President and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), presided over the meeting of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the CPC. The meeting called on the army, armed police and paramilitary forces, as well as medical personnel to go to the quake-hit areas as soon as possible, and mount all-out efforts to save the injured and reduce the impact caused by the havoc. Full story