A 6.2-magnitude earthquake occurred in Tainan, Taiwan, and many places in Fujian and Guangdong felt the tremors! Once again, we remind you that earthquake warning is very important!

The China Earthquake Networks Center officially determined that at 00:17 on January 21, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in Tainan City, Taiwan (23.24 degrees north latitude, 120.51 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 14 kilometers. In the following hours, there were more than 20 aftershocks in Tainan City, Chiayi County and other places .

At 8:50 a.m. on the 21st, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake occurred again in Nanxi District, Tainan City. The focal depth was 9.5 kilometers, which was an extremely shallow earthquake with a maximum intensity of 3 in Tainan.

Currently, 27 people have been injured and are seeking medical treatment due to the earthquake. The earthquake caused strong tremors across the island of Taiwan, with obvious tremors in Quanzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Putian and other places in Fujian, and tremors were also felt in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai and other places.

Earthquake early warning function is very important

In times of emergency

A few seconds of warning

It’s precious time for emergency avoidance

01 How to set up earthquake warning on WeChat?

Users search for "China Earthquake Networks" or "earthquake warning" in WeChat:

➡️Enter the "China Earthquake Networks" applet;

➡️Click "Turn on Earthquake Warning" and allow "Earthquake Warning Notification" and "Get Location";

➡️After successfully adding the place of interest, you can enable the earthquake warning service.

02 How to avoid an earthquake

1

Scientific hedging

To avoid risks scientifically, we first need to develop a habit:

In daily life, study, and work, we must be able to identify and analyze the risks of earthquake disasters in our homes and offices, especially large furniture that is easy to topple over, hanging objects that can easily hit people, gas pipelines and wires that are easily damaged by displacement, and huge billboards and glass curtain walls on the way to work or school.

A magnitude 7 earthquake may not cause a complete collapse of a building, but if you walk under the glass curtain wall, the glass will break, which is very dangerous.

Eliminate hidden dangers at home if possible, secure what can be fixed, and also remember on the road, "If there is an earthquake, I will definitely not run there or run under there." Everyone should be able to actively identify and avoid hidden dangers around them to create a safe living environment.

For successful emergency avoidance, we also need to make good pre-earthquake preparations in our daily lives so that we can take correct risk avoidance actions when an earthquake occurs.

When going to school, work, or daily life, you need to plan your buffer zone and evacuation routes, that is, where to escape to. Where is safe at home, where is safe at school, where is safe at work, and you need to make your own emergency risk avoidance plan.

In addition, it is also necessary to master earthquake avoidance methods through repeated drills in advance.

Photo courtesy: Chen Hong

2

How to take emergency precautions during an earthquake?

Our country is a country that suffers from serious earthquake disasters. We have summarized some effective earthquake risk avoidance methods from the bloody lessons of earthquakes.

For example, for the Tangshan earthquake, we summarized the method of "taking shelter nearby during the earthquake and evacuating quickly after the earthquake"; for the Wenchuan earthquake, we summarized the method of "run if you can, hide if you can't run"; and for some strong and felt earthquakes, we summarized the method of "don't jump off buildings or flee blindly."

The following principles should be followed when avoiding danger during an earthquake:

First, we should adapt to local conditions and choose appropriate risk hedging methods according to the environment and objective conditions.

The second is decisiveness. Stay calm, be cool-headed, and act quickly according to the plan.

Third, evacuate quickly to avoid unnecessary casualties caused by trampling or panic.

Earthquakes have early warning information, which includes the epicenter, magnitude, occurrence time, and arrival time of destructive seismic waves. In addition, the most important point is the estimated intensity of your location.

Intensity 5 or above is a dividing line. If it is above 5, hide if possible, and if it is below 5, don't run. The concept of 5 degrees is that some hangings on the wall in the house may fall down, but the house will not collapse.

Another piece of warning information is how many seconds it will take for the S wave to reach you.

As shown in the picture above, it is 75 seconds. Generally speaking, if an earthquake arrives after 75 seconds, it means that you are far away from the epicenter and basically do not need to take shelter. But if it is a magnitude 9 earthquake and it arrives at your place in 75 seconds, you have to think about it, because this earthquake is relatively large, and after 75 seconds, the intensity may still be above 6 or 7 degrees.

There are blind spots in the early warning. If you are standing in the blind spot, you need to sense the size and distance of the earthquake yourself. Earthquakes of different sizes and distances will cause different degrees of damage, and the avoidance methods will also be different. You don't need to avoid distant earthquakes or small earthquakes, but you need to avoid nearby earthquakes and large earthquakes.

3

How to determine the distance and size of an earthquake?

The shaking direction is different for earthquakes at different distances. A near earthquake will first shake up and down, then shake left and right, front and back. A far earthquake will not shake up and down, but will shake left and right for a long time.

In other words, when we feel obvious ups and downs, we need to take shelter.

Photo courtesy: Chen Hong

For buildings with weak earthquake resistance, people in single-story houses or the first or second floor of a building should quickly evacuate to a safe outdoor area, and people on the third floor and above should take shelter nearby. For buildings with strong earthquake resistance, you can take shelter nearby.

When taking shelter nearby, you should squat down, curl up your body, lower your center of gravity, reduce your area, place your forehead between your knees, and protect your head with both hands. If conditions permit, cover your mouth and nose with handkerchiefs, wet wipes, etc. to prevent dust from falling.

4

How to avoid danger in high-rise buildings?

Most high-rise residential buildings are frame structures. In terms of earthquake resistance, our country has considered the earthquake resistance standard of "no damage in small earthquakes, repairable in medium earthquakes, and no collapse in large earthquakes". There is no time to escape from high-rise buildings, so you should choose to take shelter on the spot.

We should stay away from the main walls, doors, windows and places with tall furniture, and quickly take shelter in small rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens. After the shaking stops, evacuate in an orderly manner along the fire escape to prevent the impact of subsequent aftershocks. It is forbidden to take the elevator when evacuating, and it is not recommended to use ropes to escape during an earthquake.

Earthquakes often cause landslides and collapses, so it is very important to take timely precautions.

If you are outside the area affected by the collapse, you must go around it. If the landslide is very fast, it is best to stay where you are and hold on to a tree. It is different for mudslides. It is not recommended to hold on to a tree during a mudslide.

Earthquakes are scary, but the scariest thing is that when an earthquake comes, we don’t know how to do the right thing. Let’s prepare for disasters together.

Comprehensive sources: Science Popularization China, China Earthquake Networks Center, Ministry of Emergency Management, CCTV News, Xinhuanet, etc.

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