She is one of the most internationally influential scholars in the field of earthquake disasters in my country.

How do people view geological disaster research?

Hardships and dangers... In the eyes of most people, research in this field seems to be the domain of male researchers. However, there is always a large number of female researchers in the field of geological disaster research in China. As a vital force in disaster prevention and mitigation, female scholars are active in the field of geological disaster research in China, using their expertise to protect local safety.

On November 9, the official website of the China Association for Science and Technology released the list of the 19th China Young Women Scientists Award. Among the many winners, a female scientific researcher in the field of geological disaster research came into our sight. She is Fan Xuanmei, professor at Chengdu University of Technology and deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Geological Hazard Prevention and Geological Environment Protection.

Pham Xuan Mei

Exploring the "no man's land" of strong earthquake disasters

In 2008, the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake changed the fate of many people and also made Fan Xuanmei, who was studying for a doctorate at Chengdu University of Technology, re-examine her research direction. To this day, Fan Xuanmei still clearly remembers what she saw and felt when the earthquake occurred.

When the earthquake occurred, she was on the sixth floor of the student dormitory where she lived. The shaking was so strong that everyone rushed downstairs without caring about anything else. That night, almost all the teachers and students gathered on the school playground to spend the night. According to Fan Xuanmei's tutor, "This may be an earthquake in the Longmenshan fault zone. The magnitude is very high, and the casualties are bound to be large. I am afraid there will be many secondary disasters in the future."

In the following period of time, these judgments were verified one by one.

After living in the tent for more than a day, Fan Xuanmei accompanied her mentor to the severely affected Beichuan area and witnessed the "disaster chain" caused by the strong earthquake: roads were washed away, houses collapsed, and rivers were blocked.

Under the natural disaster, she felt for the first time how small and fragile human beings are. As a scholar studying geological disasters, she felt that maybe she could do something.

Fan Xuanmei conducts field survey in the Wenchuan earthquake zone

Fan Xuanmei's original doctoral thesis was to study ordinary landslides. If she continued along this path, she would be able to graduate with a doctorate soon. But at this moment, she thought: "Since I am doing geological disaster research, I should choose the disasters that pose the most serious threat to people's lives and property, and choose the most difficult scientific problems to solve." Since then, she changed her research direction and began to "fight" with major earthquakes and various geological disasters induced by earthquakes.

In the following 14 years, Fan Xuanmei's team successfully established three prediction models: earthquake-induced landslide prediction model, post-earthquake geological disasters and disaster chain numerical simulation prediction model, and post-earthquake mudslide early warning model.

These models have been used in emergency rescue, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, and disaster prevention and mitigation work after many earthquakes, such as the 2013 Lushan earthquake, the 2017 Jiuzhaigou earthquake, and the 2022 Luding earthquake. They have greatly changed the methods and situation of post-earthquake rescue and disaster relief, and achieved significant social and economic benefits.

Footprints left on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Fan Xuanmei and her team have been working on the front line of earthquake disasters for more than a decade. When strong earthquakes occur in the motherland, they are always seen. After years of hard work, she has successfully grown from a student in the field of geological disasters to a professor at Chengdu University of Technology and deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Geological Hazard Prevention and Geological Environment Protection.

In Fan Xuanmei's office, there is a bookshelf filled with stones of various shapes. Each of these stones has its own unique meaning and was brought back by Fan Xuanmei from geological survey sites. "The work I have been doing in recent years, and what I want to continue doing in the future, is about the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," she said.

Since the 21st century, strong tectonic movements, earthquakes and global climate change have made the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increasingly "dangerous" and the most vulnerable to major geological disasters. Fan Xuanmei's biggest dream is to protect the plateau, the people living on the plateau, and the major national strategic projects on the plateau, such as the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and the Yaxia Hydropower Station.

To achieve this goal, Fan Xuanmei established a research team on the cryosphere disaster chain on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and has been practicing and exploring in the region for many years.

Fan Xuanmei's research team conducts scientific investigation on glacier-glacier disaster chain on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

As global warming has intensified in recent years, Fan Xuanmei has keenly captured the new interdisciplinary direction of strong earthquake disaster chain research. "The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a sensor and amplifier of global climate change. Its warming rate during the same period is twice the global warming rate. This is caused by the combined effects of tectonic and global climate change. Therefore, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a natural experimental field for studying the cryosphere disaster chain under the background of climate change." Fan Xuanmei said.

As early as the end of 2018, she began to carry out research and deployment on the glacier disaster chain, and together with her team members completed the remote sensing extraction of some glaciers and the design of experimental plans for ice-rock avalanche debris flows, making full preparations for further systematic research.

In order to investigate the geological disasters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Fan Xuanmei led the team to conduct a field investigation of the 2000 Yigong landslide. After arriving at the destination, they found that after 20 years, the landslide surface had grown into a dense forest, and many landslide disasters were no longer visible. Physical fatigue and regrets intertwined, and every time at this time, Fan Xuanmei would encourage the team members to keep going forward, and they would definitely make some discoveries.

After walking for three hours, the team finally reached a huge erosion gully, which was formed by the continuous erosion of the landslide deposits. After 20 years of geological activities, it cut several dozen meters deep on the original foundation. This provided favorable evidence for their future experimental exploration.

Based on previous research, the research team is currently working on studying special geological disasters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as ice-rock avalanche debris flow disasters, snow and ice melt-fed mudslide disasters, and glacial lake outburst-flood disaster chains, to provide scientific and technological support for disaster prevention and control and major engineering construction on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

A sharp sword is forged from the grindstone, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold. Because of her scientific research achievements in related fields, Fan Xuanmei has won numerous awards over the years. She is the winner of the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and the winner of the Richard-Wolters Youth Science and Technology Award of the International Association of Engineering Geology and the Environment (the first and only female winner in China). After winning the 19th China Young Women Scientist Award, Fan Xuanmei's mentality remains the same. For her, no matter how time changes or how many honors she receives, her inner love for geological disaster research will never change.

How to describe her love for geological disaster research?

Fan Xuanmei thought for a moment, then said in her usual cheerful tone: "Probably - it has both the passion of first love and the perseverance of marriage."