China's geographical position makes it highly prone to frequent seismic activity
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An earthquake of magnitude 4.9 struck China's Xinjiang on Thursday, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.
In a post on X, the National Center for Seismology said that the quake occurred at 05:45:44 IST. The tremor occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres.
"EQ of M: 4.9, On: 05/03/2026 05:45:44 IST, Lat: 43.55 N, Long: 86.12 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Xinjiang," NCS wrote.
EQ of M: 4.9, On: 05/03/2026 05:45:44 IST, Lat: 43.55 N, Long: 86.12 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Xinjiang.
— National Center for Seismology (@NCS_Earthquake) March 5, 2026
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Shallow earthquakes are generally more dangerous than deep earthquakes. This is because the seismic waves from shallow earthquakes have a shorter distance to travel to the surface, resulting in stronger ground shaking and potentially more damage to structures and greater casualties.
China's geographical position makes it highly prone to frequent seismic activity. It is located between the two largest seismic belts, the circum-Pacific seismic belt and the circum-Indian seismic belt. Squeezed by the Pacific plate, the Indian plate and the Philippine plate, the seismic fracture zones are well developed in this region.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, more than 800 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater have occurred in China. Earthquakes have struck almost all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, except for Guizhou, Zhejiang, and Hong Kong.
Since 1949, more than 100 destructive earthquakes have occurred across Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, 14 of which are in East China. These earthquakes have caused the deaths of more than 2,70,000 people, representing 54 per cent of the total death toll caused by natural disasters in China.
The earthquake-stricken districts cover an area of 300,000 square kilometres, with more than 7 million rooms destroyed. Experts note that earthquakes and other natural disasters continue to pose major challenges to China even in peaceful times.
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