An M6.6 earthquake struck near Ya'an City in Sichuan Province, China on April 20, 2013, killing at least 180 people and injuring about 11,000. The shallow quake was generated by the same fault that caused the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake. It destroyed buildings and triggered landslides, hampering rescue efforts. Many buildings collapsed as they were unable to withstand the strong shaking. Rain and debris on April 21 further slowed rescue work during the critical first 48 hours.

1. DAMAGE

2. M6.6 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES
NEAR YA’AN CITY, SICHUAN
PROVINCE, CHINA
UPDATE 2:
SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 8:30 AM

3. DAY 1

4. 8:02 AM, SATURDAY, APRIL
20, 2013
• The M 6.6 earthquake was generated
by rupture on the same fault zone that
generated the May 2008 earthquake.
• The earthquake struck a remote, mostly
rural and mountainous area of
southwestern China's Sichuan
province near Ya’an City (pop. 1.5
million) on Saturday morning killed at
least 180 and injured about 11,000.

5. SHALLOW DEPTH
• The earthquake was generated by
rupture further south on the
Longmanshan fault zone, the same
fault zone that ruptured in the May
2008 earthquake.
• A relatively shallow focal depth of
12 km (7.5 miles) made the ground
shaking even more destructive.

6. CLOSE TO THE MAY 12, 2008
QUAKE
• The epicenter was close to the
epicenter of the M8.0
earthquake that killed 88,000
people and damaged millions
of buildings on May 12, 2008.

7. Premier Li Keqiang flew to
Ya'an to direct rescue efforts,
and he and President Xi
Jinping ordered officials and
rescuers to make saving
people the top priority

8. CAUSE OF THE DISASTER::
THE SAME AS IN 2008--
INADEQUATE IMPLEMENTATION
OF AN INADEQUATE BUILDING
CODE

9. INITIAL REACTIONS
• When the earthquake occurred, many
people were at home, sleeping or
having breakfast.
• People in their underwear and wrapped
in blankets ran into the streets of Ya'an
and even in the provincial capital of
Chengdu, 115 kilometers (70 miles)
east of Lushan,

10. INITIAL IMPACTS
• The earthquake toppled buildings,
triggered landslides and disrupted
phone and power connections and
water service in mountainous Lushan
county.
• The village of Longmen was hit
particularly hard, with nearly all the
buildings being destroyed.

11. The well-known Bifengxia
panda preserve, which is
near Lushan, was not
affected by the quake.

12. BUILDINGS WERE UNABLE TO
WITHSTAND THE STRONG
GROUND SHAKING, WHICH
REPORTEDLY LASTED A MINUTE
IN LONGMAN

13. DAMAGE

14. DAMAGE

15. DAMAGE

16. Day 2:
SUNDAY, APRIL 21
RAIN, LANDSLIDES, IMPASSABLE
ROADS, AND DEBRIS SLOWED SEARCH
AND RESCUE AND EMERGENCY
RESPONSE

17. The government had mobilized
thousands of soldiers and others
— 7,000 people by Saturday
afternoon — sending excavators
and other heavy machinery as well
as tents, blankets and other
emergency supplies

18. PART OF 48 HOUR “GOLDEN PERIOD”
FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE HINDERED
• With roads blocked for several hours
by landslides, the military surveyed the
disaster area by air while waiting.
• Aerial photos showed individual
houses in ruins in Lushan, outlying
villages flattened into rubble, and the
roofs of some taller buildings shaken
off, exposing the floors beneath them.

19. SURVIVORS SLEEP OUTSIDE
• Fearing further damage from
aftershocks, wary survivors slept
outside their damaged homes in Ya’an
city and Longman.

20. The Chinese Red Cross
deployed relief teams with
supplies of food, water,
medicine and rescue
equipment to the disaster
areas.

21. SUNDAY, APRIL 21:
FRUSTRATION
• Along the main roads, ambulances, fire
engines and military trucks piled high
with supplies waited in long lines,
some turning back to try other routes
when roads were impassable.
• Rescuers were forced to dynamite
boulders that had fallen across roads.