Unprecedented Devastation: Remembering the Haiyuan Earthquake

An earthquake is a natural hazard that is well-known as a pose representing threat and danger. The violent event portrays the shaking of the earth's surface due to a sudden abrupt release of the stored energy of the tectonic plates in the earth's crust. The chain of events unfolded chaotically in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, the Republic of China in 1920 in economic, environmental, political, and social consequences. A Haiyuan disaster will be discussed in the earthquake essay.

Location and Date

The Haiyuan earthquake occurred on the 16th December of 1920 (16/12/1920) in Ningxia Province in China. The hazard struct the remote Gansu Province at 7:06 pm local time, near inner Mongolia. Furthermore, the quake’s epicentre happened beneath the outskirts of Haiyuan in eastern Gansu.

Causes

The tectonic plates concluded the Eurasian plate and the Indian plate with a magnitude of 7.8-8.5 on the Richter scale resulting in a lingering impact. Stressed and yearning to break free, the two tectonic plates released the powerful energy travelling through Haiyuan. The striking disaster triggered 675 major loess landslides in the region among the maximum destructive intensity of XII on the Mercalli scale. Ground cracks were presented throughout the epicentral area as well as dammed rivers, change in river's courses, and seiches. Due to the rigidity and fragility of loess, an addition of landslides occurred, blocking rivers, burying farmlands and villages.

Environmental Impacts

The 1920 Haiyuan earthquake demolished an abundance of buildings that were destructed into rubble. Furthermore, about 500,000 houses and caves dwellings collapsed and severe destruction over an area of 20,000 square kilometres. Packs of sheep, cattle and other farm animals were killed ranged from 808,270 to 1.7 million heads. Granary stocks were destroyed with many threshed grain, animal feed and stored food, causing starvation to quickly follow by. It was troublesome as windstorms and snowfall rapidly developed after the quake causing the deformed landscape to be most critical.

Social Impacts

As the Haiyuan earthquake hit critically, many people suffered in physical or emotional agony and trepidation as the memory would resurface, occupying their mind. The fear for not only themselves but love ones related or knew the fallen victims were greatly affected. With the insecurity of safety and paranoia, many lives changed. The quake had a lasting effect for three years with slight shakes, with 73,000 people wiped from Haiyuan Country estimating 50% of Haiyuan's population.

Economic Impacts

By 1921, a death toll of 273,400 people was killed whilst 164,000 injured, making the hazard the second largest earthquake in the twentieth century. Building damage and social losses contributed to the suffering of the economy. One estimation put complete property losses in Gansu on 30 million yuan (approximately US$20 million during that time). In over 14 countries 70% of constructions were demolished as China wasn't only affected by the hazard. Many towns, villages, cities were either destroyed or buried by the constant landslides, adding onto roughly 125 km of errors the earthquake caused. Many businesses went down such as local shops, restaurants and barns, this caused many people to lose their jobs and homes.

Political Impacts

Soldiers and officers operating out of the regional garrisons were commanded by General Ma Fuxiang, in Ningxia, and General Lu Hongtao, in Pingliang to assist with the fallen communities. The army presented the first intelligence on the earthquake, and also agreed as first responders, distributing emergency preparations and tents to villages in some of the most hard-hit areas. Some districts were provided with set up soup kitchens, merchant associations, local gentry and contributed emergency aid. Decent amounts of monies and materials were established and transmitted to the region by provincial and county governments elsewhere in China. In the winter, foreign missionaries in Gansu united to repair transport routes, re-open communication lines, reconstruct communities and unblock the river systems caused by landslides.

Management Strategy

In 1920, very few technologies were being produced, reducing any sort of warning of an upcoming disaster. The province of Gansu, China, was unprepared because of the poor soil which displayed little signs of an upcoming earthquake. The strategy was difficult to predict and leaned towards the inaccuracy. There wasn't any way to stop the earthquake with a lack of information and technology. The people could only react by rebuilding homes and structures. Gansu is located in the Loess Plateau, where the soil is dry and loose. This makes the province extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. The lack of proper transportation and communication made it complicated to secure a steady flow of information. Since then, China has been consistently upgrading in technology aiming to deliver warnings and reducing the damage as well as they can before a disaster strikes.

Conclusion

With countless deaths and structure destroyed, the Haiyuan earthquake made its way to top 10 of deadliest earthquakes. The 1920 earthquake immensely made the following years suffer and would remain as a devasting disaster in China's history.