Sichuan earthquake could affect Chinese manufacturers: EQECAT

A new report from catastrophe modeling firm EQECAT Inc. suggests there is “large potential” for damage to manufacturing plants in China’s Sichuan province, where an earthquake occurred last Saturday.

The epicenter of the April 20 earthquake, which measured measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, was about 115 kilometres west southwest of Chengdu, EQECAT’s CatWatch service reported in an e-mail alert.

“Chengdu is the hub of significant manufacturing within China,” EQECAT noted, adding it is becoming a prominent centre for hi-tech and industrial production.

“Commercial centers are typically sited on the flat areas surrounding rivers, and these areas are prone to have poorer soils and exhibit higher ground motion amplification,” EQECAT stated. “There is a large potential for damages to industrial facilities from this event, including industries more prone to buy insurance.”

But EQECAT does not expect “significant disruption” because the quake itself was “distant from the commercial and transport centers of the region.”

Although damage was concentrated closer to the epicentre, the report suggested, there was heavy damage reported in villages close to the epicentre.

“Preliminary reports indicate nearly 200 fatalities and thousands of people injured and missing,” according to EQECAT. “These numbers may increase given the population exposed to strong ground shaking.”

China earthquake: 200 people dead or missing, 11,800 injured and 100,000 homeless as clean up begins gu.com/p/3fa9v/tw

— The Guardian (@guardian) April 22, 2013

Quoting from the United States Geological Survey, EQECAT said the source likely occurred on the Longmenshan Fault, the source of the quake May 12, 2008, which lies along the eastern Tibetan plateau. Last Saturday’s quake occurred 85 kilometres south of the 2008 disaster, which killed 70,000, according to the report.

“The tectonic setting of the Himalaya region is a continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates,” according to EQECAT. “The convergence of these plates, where India is being thrust beneath Eurasia makes this one of the most seismically active regions in the world.”

Quoting from USGS, EQECAT noted more than 69 million people felt last Saturday’s quake, with about 83,000 “exposed to severe ground shaking.”