3. What Happened?
•On May 12, 2008, a terrible tragedy happened. An
earthquake struck Sichuan, China. The earthquake
only lasted for 22.2 seconds, but the surface wave
magnitude was 8.0. It is largest earthquake in China,
even larger than the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. The
aftershocks lasted for 72 hours after the quake, and
was ranged from 4.0 to 6.1. Some of the aftershocks
when high as 6 magnitude.
•This 7.9 to 8.0 earthquake broke apart mountains,
changed steam courses, made heavy strong bridges
collapse… A total disaster!
4. When Did It Happen?
•The earthquake struck on May 12, 2008, 2 AM 12, 04
seconds.
•Even thought the earthquake was only 22.2 seconds,
but it influenced thousands of people’s life.
•It was still midnight when the earthquake struck, so
not everybody has gotten a chance to escape.
•Lots of them just died in their dreams.
5. Casualties
•Because of the earthquake, 67,551 people died,
281,367 people got hurt and 9148 people disappeared
forever in the ashes.
•In a city called Mingyang, seven schools collapsed,
and buried over 1,700 students inside.
•In a town called Yingxiu, only 2,300 people out of
about 9,000 people survived.
6. perty Damage
•Because of the earthquake, at least 5 million people
lost their houses, but that was only at least.
•Millions of farm animals, reptiles, and birds lost their
homes.
•In Sichuan, out of 60 million pigs, over 1 million died
in the earthquake.
•People have estimated that the Chinese government
had spent over 20 million trying to repair the damage
7. Other Things About the Earthquake
•The earthquake broke mountains, formed land slides
…
•During this previous disaster, there were lots of
heroes, like a man called Chen Guangbiao, who owns
a construction company. When he heard the news
about the earthquake, in just 2 hours and 30 minutes,
he and his crew members came and helped. He
transported 60 construction machines and led 120
volunteers to come and rescue…
8. Science Behind It: What Caused It?
•The Eastern Sichuan earthquake was caused by two
tectonic plates, the Eurasian plate and the Indian
plate.
• After the year 1964, the activity of the earthquake
having a magnitude has increased. (Dotted Area)
9. Where Did the Earthquake Struck?
•The location is at 30.986oN, 103.364oE
•In total, the earthquake struck 9 Provinces, and the
place with the worst damage is Sichuan. In cities like
Mianyang, Ngawa had at least twenty thousand who
died.
10. •Sichuan is located along the Longmen Shan fault.
•The Longmen Shan fault is the edge of Tibet is
also a part of the Longmen Shan Mountain that
meets up with the Sichuan basin.
•The earthquake shouldn’t be happening in
Sichuan, but the 2008 earthquake was caused by
pressure from Longmen mountain which is
pushing north, stopped by the Sichuan basin. For
years, the pressure built up into a certain amount
which caused the earthquake.
The Plate Boundary
11. Other Reasons For the Earthquake
•The earthquake is caused by the tectonic plates for
sure, but lots of people are still guessing the reason
for this to happen.
•Some people said that it is caused by the Eurasian
plate and the Indian plate moving.
•But others said that it was caused by the movement
of Longmenshan.
•These are still guesses, so nobody is totally sure
about what caused the earthquake.
