May 30, 2014 Earthquake: Yingjiang, Yunnan Province, China

Reference #13456

At least 43 people injured, 3,390 buildings destroyed and 18,000 damaged in Yingjiang, China. Power outages occurred at Dehong. Felt in Myitkyina, Burma.

Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the Himalaya and Vicinity

Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a relative rate of 40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The surface expression of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of the north-south trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese Arc in the east and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north of India.

The India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the region near the north of India, lies within the limits of the Indus-Tsangpo (also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and the Main Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is located roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow (<200km) Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending, parallel structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this densely populated region, caused by reverse slip movement include the 1934 M8.1 Bihar, the 1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir earthquakes. The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern India. This M8.6 right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt over a broad area of central Asia, causing extensive damage to villages in the epicentral region.

Reference #10987:

BEIJING - A moderately strong earthquake in southwestern China has injured 45 people and forced thousands to seek shelter in an area near the border with Myanmar, Chinese authorities said Saturday. Residents fled buildings during Friday's quake and students evacuated schools that had already been damaged by another quake in the same area of Yunnan province last week. Eight people were seriously injured, and 184, 678 were moved to more than four dozen temporary shelters, according to a notice Saturday from the Dehong prefectural government in Yunnan. The quake in Dehong's Yingjiang county was registered at magnitude 6.1 by China's earthquake monitoring agency, but at 5.9 by the U.S. Geological Survey. Electricity was cut to some areas in the quake zone, but communications were not affected. While such quakes are capable of causing serious damage, the number of injured was much reduced because authorities had ordered the evacuation of buildings damaged following last week's 5.6 magnitude quake. More than 1,000 soldiers were helping rescue efforts, and tents and bedding were sent to aid survivors. About 300,000 people live in the area.

Reference #1250:

45 injured, 2 million USD total damages