Rescuers gather in Wangdagua Town of Pingyuan County, east China's Shandong Province, Aug 6, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Dozens of people have been injured and 213 homes destroyed following an earthquake in Pingyuan county, East China's Shandong Province. It was the strongest earthquake recorded in the province in over a decade.

The Chinese central government has dispatched a working team to guide rescue and relief work.

At 2:33 am on Sunday, a 5.5-magnitude earthquake at a depth of 10 kilometers occurred in Pingyuan, Dezhou city. The earthquake department in Shandong revealed that there have been 59 aftershocks recorded so far, with the largest magnitude being 3.0.

As of 5 pm Sunday, 24 earthquake-related injuries have been reported, all of which were slight injuries.

At present, the 5.5 magnitude earthquake has been the largest of this earthquake sequence, with a potential three to four aftershocks still expected. 

Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Sunday that the aftershocks would not be as intense as the main earthquake, noting that the frequency of the aftershocks - 59 occurrences - is normal.

Given that the earthquake was at a depth of 10 kilometers, which is relatively shallow, this means that it felt stronger than it was and had a greater impact on buildings, Ma said.

He noted that Shandong has not experienced a major earthquake since 1983, with officials noting that earthquake-proof dwellings and infrastructure needed to be strengthened and dwellings in rural areas remain particularly vulnerable.

The State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management have decided to activate the national level IV emergency response for earthquakes and dispatch a working group to Shandong to provide guidance and assistance.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development also activated earthquake emergency response level IV in accordance with procedure and sent experts to the province to carry out safety emergency assessment of housing and other work. Officials of the Shandong provincial housing department have also led a team to Pingyuan to carry out rescue work.
A total of 15 vehicles and 107 personnel from a Dezhou rescue brigade have been dispatched to the epicenter for rescue operations. Fire Rescue Brigades from Ji'nan, Tai'an, Liaocheng, Dezhou and Binzhou, totaling 24 vehicles and 236 firefighters, as well as the mobile canine search and rescue team, have been assembled. As of now, no reports of casualties have been received, and the extent of the disaster is being further verified.

To ensure the safety of trains, the Jinan Railway Bureau has initiated an emergency response, stopping trains within its jurisdiction. It is currently organizing equipment inspections on relevant routes, resulting in varying degrees of delays for trains passing through.

The Beijing Bureau of China Railway has launched a level I emergency response, suspending the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, Beijing-Kowloon railway, the Shiji Kezhu, Shijike and Shide lines, and is organizing a comprehensive inspection of relevant line equipment. Trains passing through these areas will be canceled or delayed. 

Apart from Shandong, there were also reports of tremors in Hebei, Tianjin and other areas, with some places experiencing noticeable tremors. Many netizens claimed to have been "awakened by the tremors." Most areas of Beijing, 323 kilometers from Dezhou, felt the jolt. Yet Beijing has not reported any losses from the earthquake. After preliminary analysis and assessment, it is believed that this earthquake will not have a significant impact on short-term seismic activity in Beijing. 

According to the results recorded by the Beijing earthquake network, the highest intensity of seismic activity in the capital was in the Tongzhou district, reaching level III.  

Seconds before the earthquake was felt by people, many residents in Beijing, Shandong and nearby areas received an early warning message. According to local Beijing media, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region earthquake early warning network was up and running. In situations such as these, the China Earthquake Early Warning Network releases warnings through  emergency broadcasts, mobile phones and dedicated terminals, providing users in the target area with an advanced warning of several seconds to tens of seconds.

A resident in Beijing's Chaoyang district told the Global Times that she received a warning at 02:37 am on Sunday saying that an earthquake was some 60 seconds away, but in the end she did not feel the quake.

In recent years, China has stepped up its early warning capabilities for earthquakes. 

The China Earthquake Early Warning Network, jointly built by the Chengdu-based Institute of Care-life - a disaster reduction institute that was established in the aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake - working with the China Earthquake Administration, was able to provide a three second advanced warning to the Shandong's Dezhou, 17 seconds to Shandong's Ji'nan, and 70 seconds to Beijing. The earthquake is the 78th seismic event to be detected ahead of time by authorities since 2011, the Global Times learned.

Wang Tun, a professor from Sichuan University and director of the Institute of Care-life, said that since 2010, the earthquake early warning network has covered 2.4 million square kilometers, accounting for 90 percent of China's densely populated multi-earthquake areas.