A magnitude 3.0 earthquake struck the city of Nanjing yesterday lunchtime that, according to experts, was the largest quake in the city’s main urban area since scientific instruments became available.
The earthquake struck at 12:25 pm on Tuesday 3 March. The epicentre was in Gulou District, at 118.8° east, 32.1° north, at a depth of 10 kilometres. The coordinates correspond to across the street from the Shenzhen Commercial Bank on Yanting Lu, off Heyan Lu near to Hongshan Zoo metro station.
People in many parts of of Gulou, Xuanwu and Qixia districts felt the tremor, stating that the quake was “obvious”. No damage to neither person nor property was reported, although it is said telephone lines were knocked out in the vicinity.
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Zhu Wenqing, Deputy Director of the Nanjing Earthquake Administration, spoke with journalists regarding the quake, reports Jiangsu People’s Web.
He said, ”Generally, anyone in the urban area would have been aware of an earthquake of magnitude 2.3 or more”.
It is understood that since the 1970s, a total of eight earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 3.0 have taken place within 50 kilometres of yesterday’s event.
The two largest previous quakes to occur in Nanjing nearest yesterday’s event were a magnitude 2.3 seismic shock that struck on 30 December, 2007, and one of magnitude 2.3 on 13 November, 2009.
The likelihood of a major earthquake striking Nanjing, one that could do significant damage, is estimated to be extremely low.
