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this is the fourth earthquake in feidong county this year, and the epicenter is liangyuan town.

text | wang qian zhang lingyun ren junmeng ma wenqian

editor | wang xiao

when the earthquake struck, he jingdong, who ran a restaurant in liuxiang village, liangyuan town, feidong county, hefei city, felt a strong shaking that lasted about four seconds, and all the drinks in the store were shaken to the ground.

"we knew the earthquake was coming at that moment." he jingdong, the store clerk, and two tables of customers who were eating in the store immediately ran to the street outside the store. he jingdong said that after the earthquake, people on both sides of the street ran out one after another, and a large number of residents gathered on the street. it was not until half an hour later that everyone began to return to their houses one after another.

the china earthquake networks center officially determined that a magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurred at 20:08 on september 18 in feidong county, hefei city, anhui province (31.98 degrees north latitude, 117.60 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 12 kilometers.

it is reported that the epicenter of the earthquake was located in liangyuan town, feidong county, hefei city. the earthquake was felt significantly in hefei and throughout anhui province. the average altitude within 5 kilometers of the epicenter was about 33 meters.

shangguan news reporter noted that this is the fourth earthquake in feidong county this year, and the epicenter is liangyuan town. at 18:13 on february 24, a 3.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in liangyuan, feidong county; at 02:32 on may 12, a 3.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in liangyuan; and at 05:12 on september 14, a 3.9-magnitude earthquake occurred in liangyuan again.

on the evening of september 18, the anhui provincial seismological bureau and the anhui provincial emergency management department jointly held a press conference on the 4.7-magnitude feidong earthquake. it was reported at the meeting that according to feedback from the scene, as of 22:30, some houses in the epicenter were slightly damaged, and no collapsed houses or casualties had been found.

at 8:00 a.m. on september 19, the china earthquake administration organized experts from the china earthquake networks center, anhui provincial earthquake administration, jiangsu provincial earthquake administration, shanghai earthquake administration, zhejiang provincial earthquake administration and other units to discuss the post-earthquake trend of the 4.7-magnitude feidong earthquake again. after analysis and judgment, the previous judgment that "the possibility of an earthquake of magnitude 5 or above occurring in the original earthquake area in the next few days is not high" was maintained.

the anhui provincial seismological bureau reported that at 7:58 am on july 19, a magnitude 2.6 aftershock occurred in feidong county with a focal depth of 12 kilometers.

the earthquake was felt in many places in anhui

a clerk at a barbecue restaurant in feidong county described that when the earthquake hit, he felt "a sudden shock, accompanied by violent shaking", and small concrete stones fell from the ceiling of the restaurant. the clerk described the earthquake as a sound like a large truck or car hitting, and coatings fell off the commercial street.

when the earthquake occurred, su wei, who lives in hefei, was washing dishes in the kitchen. suddenly, he felt that he could not hold the dishes, the walls around him were shaking, and the mobile phone in the living room sounded an alarm. his wife was in the bedroom and his child was drawing in the room. su wei shouted "earthquake". he ran to the living room, and his wife and child ran from the room to the living room, and the three of them went downstairs together to avoid aftershocks.

at around 20:00 on the 18th, yan yan, a retired doctor from wuhu who lived on the fourth floor, was lying on his bed and looking at his phone. suddenly, he felt the person on the screen start to shake, and his bed was also moving. yan yan thought that he had a problem with his cervical spine from looking at his phone for too long. after sitting up, he felt the shaking stop. after lying down again for a few seconds, the shaking started again. yan yan then realized that an earthquake had occurred. yan yan learned from his classmates that many of his classmates in hefei felt strong tremors.

in ma'anshan city, 170 kilometers away from feidong county, yu fei, a high school class teacher who was teaching evening self-study, also felt the obvious tremor. she quickly took her students to the playground to take shelter.

in the impression of he jingdong, the owner of a restaurant in liangyuan town, the first three earthquakes this year were relatively minor, but he felt that the tremors of this time were unprecedentedly strong.

on the evening of the 18th, yu yue, who works in shanghai, received a call from his family in luyang district, hefei. his mother expressed similar feelings to yu yue. "my mother was shocked. she said she didn't feel anything the previous times, but today it was very shaking."

the owner of another restaurant in feidong county found that many small flying insects appeared in the restaurant after the earthquake. "this is the first time i have seen this in all my years of working in the catering industry. there were also many small flying insects after the earthquake a few days ago. i was able to clean out a pound of them."

since the beginning of this year, feidong county has experienced several perceptible earthquakes, the most recent of which was a 3.9-magnitude earthquake on september 14. earlier, lu dongliang, deputy director of the hefei earthquake monitoring center of the anhui provincial seismological bureau, said in an interview that considering that feidong county is near the tanlu fault zone, there are relatively more earthquakes, "this frequency is higher than in previous years, but it is not particularly intensive."

on the evening of september 18, residents of a residential area in yaohai district, hefei, went downstairs to seek safety after the earthquake. photo provided by the interviewee

why four times?

on the evening of september 18, the anhui provincial seismological bureau issued a notice stating that the china earthquake administration organized a joint consultation with the china earthquake networks center, anhui provincial seismological bureau, zhejiang provincial seismological bureau, shanghai earthquake bureau and other units, and believed that the possibility of an earthquake of magnitude 5 or above occurring in the original earthquake area in the next few days is not high.

hefei is located in the southern part of the tanlu fault zone and has a prominent tectonic background. why did liangyuan town, feidong county, hefei, experience multiple earthquakes? on the evening of the 18th, the anhui provincial seismological bureau and the anhui provincial emergency management department jointly held a "feidong 4.7-magnitude earthquake press conference", and liu zemin, director of the anhui seismological station, responded to this social concern.

liu zemin said that the anhui region is subject to the combined effects of the pacific and indian plates, and the east-west compression, which can easily lead to faults in the northeast and northwest directions. feidong liangyuan is located at the junction of the northeastern tanlu fault and the nearly east-west feidong fault. under the combined effects of the stress field, the area is prone to frequent small and medium-sized earthquakes. the hefei earthquake is currently in a state of multiple earthquakes, manifested as repeated activities of medium-sized earthquakes. the current situation is more similar to a swarm earthquake. (reporter's note: in seismology, the frequent occurrence of small and medium-sized earthquakes in a specific small area in a relatively short period of time is called a swarm activity)

at the press conference, liu zemin also introduced that after the 3.5-magnitude earthquake in feidong on february 24 this year, the anhui provincial seismological bureau set up three mobile emergency earthquake monitoring instruments there, and the earthquake monitoring capability of the entire region can reach the level of zero (imperceptible earthquake). so far, more than 100 imperceptible earthquakes have been monitored. the anhui provincial seismological department will continue to pay attention and will promptly announce to the public any new aftershocks and other related situations.

luo qifeng, a former earthquake expert at the shanghai institute of disaster prevention and relief, said in an interview with the shangguan news that according to historical earthquake data, it is not surprising that an earthquake of magnitude 4 or above occurred in this area. "the china earthquake administration has divided earthquake zones based on the geological structure and seismic activity of the region. hefei belongs to the fortification zone with an earthquake intensity of 7 degrees. small earthquakes have no destructive effect on general civil engineering structures. since there have been four consecutive perceptible earthquakes of magnitude 3 or above this year, whether it is active again will attract the attention of the earthquake administration, and they will strengthen observation and consultation."

"earthquakes have the characteristic of occurring in groups. there are foreshocks, main shocks, aftershocks, and group earthquakes. what is certain is that when an earthquake occurs, some of the stored energy will be released. short-term earthquake prediction is difficult, but long-term prediction is reliable, based on historical earthquake activity and geological structure. the china earthquake administration also determines the earthquake resistance standards of various places mainly based on historical earthquake activity and geological structure."

luo qifeng stressed that earthquake prevention and emergency preparedness should be well prepared, and knowledge on earthquake prevention and emergency response should be popularized. the public should be especially careful to identify information and not believe in rumors. "historical lessons show that the spread of false information can have a greater impact and cause more losses than a real small or medium-sized earthquake."

(yan yan and yu fei are pseudonyms in this article. our reporter feng rui also contributed to this article)