October 7, 2014 Earthquake: Yongping, Yunnan Province, China

At least 1 person killed and 28 injured in Yunnan. Some buildings collapsed at Yongping. Felt at Chengdu, Jinma, Kunming, Majie and Yunjinghong. Felt (II) at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Kunming, Yunnan, China - CDI: 4; Yunjinghong, Yunnan, China - CDI: 4; Jinma, Yunnan, China - CDI: 3; Chengdu, Sichuan, China - CDI: 2; Majie, Yunnan, China - CDI: 2

Tectonic Summary

The October 7, 2014 M 6.0 earthquake southwest of Weiyuan, China, in the southwestern Yunnan Province, occurred as the result of shallow strike-slip faulting within the crust of the Eurasia plate, in the broad plate boundary region between the India and Eurasia plates. Tectonics here are controlled by the convergence of the India plate with Eurasia, which has driven the uplift of the Himalayas to the west of this earthquake, and has caused the formation of numerous intraplate continental transform structures in the surrounding region. The pattern of elastic-wave radiation from the earthquake is consistent with the shock occurring either as the result of right-lateral faulting on a northwest-trending fault or as the result of left-lateral faulting on a northeast trending fault. Faults of both types have been mapped in southwestern Yunnan, and it is unclear at this time which type of fault hosted this event. At the latitude of the October 7 earthquake, India moves northeastward with respect to Eurasia at a rate of approximately 51 mm/yr.

Strong earthquakes are reasonably common in the Yunnan province, and the bordering countries of Burma and Laos; the area within 500 km of the October 7 earthquake has hosted 44 other earthquakes of M 6 or above over the past century. Earthquakes here are also often damaging and deadly, as a result of the high vulnerability of most residential structures in this dominantly agricultural province. Nearby earthquakes in the M5-7 range in March 1979, November 1988, May 1989, January 1993, and June 2007, all caused fatalities - the largest, 110 km to the southwest in November 1988 (M 7.0) resulted in approximately 730 deaths. Within several hours of the 2014 earthquake, news reports indicate this M 6.0 event has caused limited fatalities, likely due to the sparse population nearby...

(reference #13456)

As of October 8, at least one person died and another 323 were injured in the earthquake which struck the county of Jinggu in the southern part of Yunnan the previous day, according to state media. (reference #11093)

A strong, shallow earthquake shook southwestern China's Yunnan province late on Tuesday evening (local time), killing at least one person, sending thousands fleeing into the streets and damaging buildings, officials and reports said... Worst hit was the town of Yongping, just five kilometres from the epicenter, where some houses had collapsed, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Yongping has a population of 54,000, while the surrounding county of Jinggu closest to the epicenter has a population of 290,000. (reference #11094)

274 million USD in total damages (reference #1250)

1215 million USD in economic loss (reference #13727)