The2011 Yunnan earthquake was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred on 10 March 2011 at 12:58CST, with its epicenter inYingjiang County,Yunnan, People's Republic ofChina, near theBurmese border.[1] A total of 26 people died and 313 were injured with 133 in serious condition.[2] China'sXinhua reports that up to seven aftershocks, measuring up to a magnitude of 4.7, followed the initial quake, which caused a total of 127,000 people to be evacuated to nearby shelters.[3] It joined over 1,000 other minor tremors that affected the region in the two preceding months.[4] Following damage surveys, officials reported that 1,039 buildings were destroyed and 4,994 more were seriously damaged.[2] The earthquake occurred one day before amuch larger earthquake struck Japan that triggered a tsunami.
The epicenter was 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from the center of the county, which has a population of more than 270,000 people and is home to several ofChina's ethnic minorities.[5] The state news agency reports that an estimate of 1,200 houses and apartments collapsed and that around 17,500 were severely damaged.[3] The surrounding area also suffered through power outages caused by the quake and several aftershocks.[6] It is not known if there were any casualties or damage in Burma.[6] Although there was a power outage telecommunications continued to work after the earthquake.[7] Close to 127,100 people were evacuated from Yingjiang County following the quake, which affected a total of 344,600 people.[8]
China Central Television showed damaged buildings with debris around as police officers directed traffic on a chaotic street.[9] A local reported the extent of the damage to the BBC, saying, "[half] of a supermarket building had collapsed. Three other big buildings nearby were also badly destroyed", and that "the walls of almost all the houses had collapsed."[6]
Small tremors had been occurring in this region for two months and caused damage to many local buildings. A seismologist explained that the strength of this earthquake was enough to let damaged buildings collapse.[10]
The Chinese media reported that 5,000 tents, 10,000 quilts and nearly 1,000 troops were being sent to the area to aid the rescue efforts.[6][7] The Macao Red Cross also offered 200,000RMB as a relief fund for the earthquake.[11] Xinhua has described the area as a "Quake Prone belt" as there have been a thousand tremors in the area in recent months.[12] There were multiple aftershocks as rescue efforts got underway by firefighters and other rescuers.[13] TheChinese government allocated 55 million yuan to relief efforts on 11 March while theMinistry of Finance gave 50 million yuan for infrastructure repair.[14] The earthquake forced the delay of a planned 180,000-kWhydroelectricity project in theNujiang River Valley.[15]
