Another Earthquake in Sichuan Province Hits Zigong

Early in the morning, at 12:32 AM Chinese time (around noon US EST time), Sichuan Province received yet another earthquake. This time however, the earthquake hit Zigong, a small area known for its tourist attractions.

The earthquake was relatively minor, rating 4.1 on the Richter Scale. The previous Sichuan earthquake measured around 7.9 to 8, making it one of the largest ever.

Zigong was hit early in the morning, just past midnight. As of October 11, thirty six people were injured, with nine people in the hospital receiving treatment. Many houses collapsed from the shock of the earthquake. The work team arrived at 4:45 AM Chinese time, around four hours after the earthquake started.

Zigong is known for its traditional salt making factory and its dinosaur museum. Many dinosaur fossils were discovered and excavated in the Dashanpu Formation, very close to downtown Zigong. It was the first dinosaur museum in Asia. The earthquake damaged eight valuable dinosaur fossils, while ten received tension fractures. The exhibition hall and the rest of the museum is safe and undamaged, fortunately, and is already open again to tourists. The museum's curator is taking inventory on the fossil damage.

The Zigong dinosaur museum around 5 kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake. Those that were there said that it shook very fiercely. After the earthquake, the fossils were taken to warehouses. The amount of monetary damage is unknown.

Because of the previous earthquakes, the people of Zigong did not really experience as much panic as before. The teahouses are full with visitors again and the local women are carefree. Zigong is very optimistic and expect that mutual help will restore the community.

A Chinese news site posting can be read here: http://news.sohu.com/20081011/n259964904.shtml However, this article is written in Chinese and no English articles, to my knowledge, exist at the moment of writing.