Shallow depth of China quake increased the damage

Times:

The earthquake was a result of the geological processes that created the Himalayas.

Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayas form part of the Tibetan Plateau and are still rising because of the collision, 45 million years ago, between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

The epicentre of the earthquake lies on a fault line between the eastern border of the Tibetan Plateau and an area of sedimentary rocks.

Material from the Tibetan Plateau is forcing its way underneath the Sichuan basin sedimentary rocks lying deep beneath the surface in China.

Friction between the rocks stops movement and an earthquake occurs when the opposing surface suddenly slip forward as the forces overcome the friction.

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The Himalayan mountains and the Tibetan Plateau are still being forced northwards and upwards by the Indian plate at a rate of 5cm each year.

Seismologists calculated that the epicentre of the earthquake was beneath Wenchun county, about 100 miles northwest of the city of Chengdu.

It was calculated to have taken place 6.2 miles below the surface, a relatively shallow depth which is thought to have contributed to the violence of the earthquake on the ground.

Energy from the subterranean slip spread out in every direction and the powerful earthquake, which was measured at magnitude 7.8, could be felt in Bangkok, Hong Kong and in Shanghai, more than 930 miles away.

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Just a few years ago Bangkok felt the tremors from the undersea quake near Indonesia that caused a huge title wave. Whether the seismic activity was related is not disclosed. The damage it caused in China was extensive to property and people. Current estimates of the death toll are approaching 10,000.