A Chinese expert has sought to allay public fears following a recent spate of earthquakes across Asia, stressing that data shows there has been no abnormal surge in seismic activity.
Concerns have been raised about the frequency of tremors in the region after northwest China's Qinghai Province was jolted on Tuesday lunchtime before a 7.1-magnitude quake rocked Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture later on the same day, killing at least 28 people, according to Japanese authorities.
Gao Mentan, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics under the China Earthquake Administration, said that while such concerns are understandable, the latest monitoring data shows seismic activity has not risen above normal levels.
"The recent earthquakes in Qinghai and Japan, along with the earlier, more destructive quake in Venezuela, have certainly made people more sensitive to seismic events. However, authoritative monitoring data shows that the actual number of earthquakes occurring is far higher than what the public usually perceives, and there has never been any abnormal surge in seismic activity," he said.
Gao also referenced the devastating double earthquakes which hit Venezuela in the space of a minute in late June, leading to the loss of more than 5,300 lives.
He emphasized that while it may seem like many more quakes are occurring in quick succession, assessing the data shows that even for moderate events above magnitude 4.0, the annual average over the past decade stands at about 15,000, meaning such quake activity has been regularly occurring in recent years.
Chinese expert stresses no abnormal spike in seismic activity despite recent quakes
