Last updated on June 16, 2008
Press release
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology announces that ? A strong earthquake was recorded today May 12, 2008 at 08:28 Italian time in China, in the Sichuan province. The magnitude 8 earthquake? It was located about 90 kilometers northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital and is superficial (within 30 km of depth?).
The earthquake yes? occurred in the extensive deformation zone caused by the convergence of the Indian plate towards the Eurasian plate extending from the Himalayan front to the Gobi desert, approximately 2000 km N of the Himalayan front. The area affected by the event? the western edge of the Sichuan basin characterized by strong earthquakes even in recent periods with a magnitude comparable to today's earthquake (e.g. 1973 M=7.7 at about 240 km from the epicenter. With the data available, the Three Gorges Dam does not appear have a cause-effect relationship with today's event. The earthquake was followed by several aftershocks with a maximum magnitude of 6.0 until 11:50 am Italian. Further updates will be disseminated in future press releases.
localization and maps
Further Reading:
S. Salvi, S. Stramondo, M. Chini, C. Bignami, S. Atzori, C. Tolomei, CA Brunori, E. Trasatti, C. Kyriakopoulos, S. Zoffoli - Cosmo-Skymed imagery shows coseismic ground deformation and strong damage to infrastructures due to the May 12, Sichuan, China earthquake.