On the last day of the National Day vacation, there was a 6.6-magnitude earthquake in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. It has only been two months since the 6.5-magnitude Ludian Earthquake. Fortunately only one person has died in this earthquake to date.

1. Why are the casualties of Jinggu earthquake so much smaller?

Experts from the China Seismological Bureau say that compared with the Ludian earthquake, the strong aseismic capacity of housing, low density of population, and dense vegetative cover are major reasons for lower casualties.

There are many forests in Jinggu, and most of the houses are built with a framework of wooden beams. "Though the structure is very simple, houses with wooden beams do not collapse easily," said Ran Yongkang, a researcher at the China Seismological Bureau.

Although the magnitudes of the two earthquakes were similar, the level of destruction was quite different. According to another researcher at the Bureau, Sun Jingjiang, the maximum acceleration of the Ludian earthquake was about 1G, which is very high: "If it gets higher than the gravitational acceleration, a person can be knocked over," he said. The acceleration of Jinggu earthquake was less than 0.6G, only half the force of the Ludian earthquake.

2. Why are there so many earthquakes in Yunnan Province?

Researcher Fu Hong with the Yunnan Seismological Bureau says that the major reason for the frequent earthquakes in Yunnan is the moving of the Indian Tectonic Plate. When the Indian Plate moves northeast, the whole of Yunnan Province can be affected.

Li Chunguang, a director of the bureau, says that the Ludian and Jinggu earthquakes were both caused by movements of the Indian Plate, as were other recent earthquakes in Yunnan.

3. Is this earthquake related to the Ludian earthquake?

A director of the China Earthquake Networks Center, Pan Huaiwen, says that there was no direct connection between the two recent earthquakes. Though both Ludian and Jinggu lie on the active seismic belt, they can be taken as independent events.

4. Is the Moon to blame for the Jinggu earthquake?

On Oct. 8th a total lunar eclipse occurred in China, while the Jinggu earthquake took place during the night of Oct. 7th. Some people wonder whether the blood Moon was one of the causes of the earthquake.

Li Jing, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Astronomical Observatories, explains that the total lunar eclipse had nothing to do with the earthquake. A great deal of research has been done in this field internationally, and no data indicates any connection between earthquakes and lunar eclipses.

Li Jing stresses that the causes of lunar eclipses and earthquakes are completely different. The main causes for earthquakes are phenomena such as the moving of tectonic plates and volcanism, while lunar eclipses are an astronomical phenomenon. The ocean tides are a consequence of the activities of the Moon, but neither a solar eclipse nor a lunar eclipse can cause any activity within the earth's crust. 

5. Will there be another major earthquake in Yunnan in the near future?

Fu Hong says that of all the earthquakes on the seismic belt around Jinggu, almost 80 percent were aftershocks. This means people should be wary of aftershocks above 5-magnitude, and there is a smaller chance of stronger earthquakes.

Yunnan is currenlty experiencing a period of high seismic activity. According to Li Chunguang, further research is needed to predict and analyze future earthquakes in this area.

This article is translated and edited from 《五问云南景谷地震》，source: Bjnews.com.cn，author: Dai Yuxi