The Jiashi earthquakes were a series of earthquakes from 1997 to 2003, with several earthquakes larger than 6 occurring between January and April, 1997. Two strong earthquakes with magnitudes 6.4 and 6.3 occurred on January 21, 1997, at 09:47 and 09:48 local time, respectively, in
Jiashi County
Payzawat County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also via SASM/GNC romanization as Payziwat County (; ), (also Faizabad and Fayzawat) and via Mandarin Chinese as Jiashi County () is a county in Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang ...
of
Xinjiang Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autono ...
, NW China. The earthquakes occurred on a major strike-slip fault beneath the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
. The fault has no surface expression and prior to the earthquake was unknown. At least 12 people were killed and 40 injured in the earthquakes of January 21. Another earthquake on March 1, 1997, at 14:04 local time with magnitude 6.0 killed another person. On April 6, 11 and 16, other four earthquakes with magnitudes 6.3, 6.4, 6.6 and 6.3 killed 8 people. Several predictions were made in this earthquake series. Some of the predictions were not fulfilled, while some preceded the predicted earthquake from 2.5 hours to 4 days. The April 11 earthquake occurred 30 minutes after a prediction was made.
Rebiya Kadeer
Rebiya Kadeer ( ug, رابىيە قادىر, translit=Rabiye Qadir; born 15 November 1946) is an ethnic Uyghur businesswoman and political activist. Born in Altay City, Xinjiang, Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate ...
wrote that her career was significantly affected by the earthquakes, which were "one of the worst natural disasters that had occurred in the Uyghur nation in recent memory." One hundred villages and one thousand homes were leveled. Kadeer organized donations and aid for the area.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in China
This is a List of earthquakes in China, part of the series of lists of disasters in China. China has been the location of some of the most deadly earthquakes in history. The deadliest was the 1976 Tangshan earthquake with 300,000+ deaths. Earthq ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiashi
1997 Jiashi
1997 earthquakes
1997 disasters in China
January 1997 events in Asia