Yunnan?Province's Zhaotong City was
rocked on July 22 by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter
Scale. The jolt, its epicenter in Zhaotong's Yanjin County, claimed
22 lives and drew significant media attention since it was revealed
that the quake had been predicted earlier in the month. CCTV's "Law
Report" revealed on July 26 that the Yunnan earthquake bureau had
stated at the beginning of July a quake would hit the area. The
report added that given concerns about the prediction's accuracy,
city authorities hesitated to release the information to avoid
public anxiety.
Zhaotong's mayor, Luo Yingguang, while speaking to Southern
Weekend on August 3, admitted he had received mid-term and
long-term seismic analyses prior to the quake. However, he also
said that "as a rule, the State Council either releases earthquake
forecasts directly or entrusts provincial governments to do so. At
no point are municipal and county governments permitted to do
so."
"What's more, people with rudimentary seismic knowledge should
know that accurate prediction is impossible," he added.
Dai Zhenhua, a Chuncheng Evening News reporter, claimed
to have seen the seismic analysis the day after the quake, which
stated that: "A magnitude-5.0 quake will possibly occur in
northeast Yunnan by the end of this year. The potential seismic
area includes Yongshan, Daguan and Yiliang."
After listening to the bureau's report, Zhaotong's Party
Secretary Deng Peixian decided to convene a meeting on July 24 to
discuss precautionary measures. "Unexpectedly the quake happened
before the meeting," Dai sighed.
"Zhaotong's analysis was very helpful," said Huangfu Gang, head
of the Yunnan earthquake bureau. "Collating all the information, we
then presented to the provincial government a 'short-term
prediction', meaning a quake was likely within three months."
"Earthquake prediction is far less accurate than weather
forecasting; only one out of ten short-term predictions can be
rated as successful," Huangfu noted. "As a result, although an
'imminent forecast' rating has been included in the State Council's
regulations, it is beyond our ability to achieve this rating."
"Our analyses and predictions can only remind the local
government to keep a lookout for any possible earthquake," he
added.
However, circumstances permitting, open information helps to
reassure the public in an afflicted area. After the July 22
earthquake, panic swept through Yanjin. To combat the spread of
rumors, county head Li Jiang immediately went public with expert
opinions on the quake: the seismic origin was nine kilometers deep,
the epicenter was 14 kilometers away from the county town, and the
biggest aftershock would not measure above 3.0 or 4.0 on the
Richter scale.
Meanwhile, experts from China Earthquake Administration (CEA)
don't think the Yunnan government should be blamed for "hiding" the
quake prediction from the public.
Almost daily, the CEA receives seismic analyses or predictions,
claiming a high magnitude quake will occur somewhere. Allowing all
these to be publicized would be disastrous, they say.
Last winter's Songhua River pollution incident started an
earthquake rumor, leading a large number of Harbin dwellers to stay
outside overnight. When SARS ran rampant in 2003, the streets of
Anyang in Henan?Province were filled with hundreds
of thousands of people, all scared by rumors of an impending
quake.
Much praise has been heaped on the successful forecasting of the
7.3-magnitude earthquake in Haicheng, Liaoning?Province in 1975, leading to a
grand evacuation three hours prior to the jolt. According to some
reports, at least 100,000 residents thus survived the disaster.
Some seismologists claim that the evacuation was merely
fortuitous since the warning consisted of sloppy data and
insufficient evidence. Allegedly, some portents were observed
before the quake allowing the ruling "revolutionary committee"
(name for local government at various levels during the 1966-76
Cultural Revolution) to quickly evacuate residents.
At that time, no matter what event it is, political
considerations came first, economic losses never being taken into
consideration. As CEA experts point out, with a large-scale
evacuation of Shanghai causing losses of over 10 billion yuan for
example, nowadays the balance might just tip the other way.
A couple of years ago, some foreign seismologists published an
article in the Science magazine, claiming it's impossible
to make imminent quake forecasts. However, China -- one of the most
earthquake-affected countries in the world -- has taken prediction
work as a governmental function or task.
Given earthquakes' tendency to be preceded by certain specific
factors, densely distributed monitoring situations around seismic
sectors, aided with the systematic and detail recording of tectonic
plate movement, can make accurate predictions possible on occasion.
Examples can be found with the quakes occurring in Xiuyan of
Liaoning, Menglan of Yunnan, Jiashi of Xinjiang and Minle of Gansu. Nevertheless, seismic forecasting is
still in its infancy stage.
To reduce casualties, experts suggest that the State Council
designate key areas in which local governments are required to take
precise anti-quake measures. In an emergency, the CEA will use a
color code to indicate different levels of seriousness, thus
sending early warning signals to the State Council.
(China.org.cn by Shao Da, August 20, 2006)