At 12:50 pm Beijing time, my apartment swayed and shook, and one of my doors clicked open and shut. There were rattles and creaks as I felt the oddest sensation of dizziness for about 5 seconds or so. After about the first 2 seconds, I knew it was an earthquake, and yet it was still very physically disorienting; I felt like I had vertigo. The swaying and shaking lasted approximately 5-10 seconds, although it is hard to gauge exactly.
Apparently, the quake originated about 260 km south of Chengdu, in Yibin City, Xingwen County. Yibin is located in the same province I live in: Sichuan Province. Back in 2013, the same area received much damage from two quakes registering 4.2 and 4.4; both occurred on the same day. The quake that I just felt began at 12:45pm and registered 4.4, although other seismographic sites showed a higher intensity of 5.4. I have learned that there are frequent earthquakes in this area -- several per year! Chengdu is slightly southwest the Longmenshan Fault line, and major earthquakes have killed thousands of people in 2008, 2010, and 2017. This is a small, non-comprehensive set of data I’ve found during my last hour of research since the quake one hour ago; there have been many more quakes of varying intensities over the decades. Although it may not prove necessary, since no quake damage has occurred in Chengdu, I will buy an emergency first aid kit and stock up some water. Hmmm ... I avoided hurricanes for a decade while living in the Caribbean and Florida; let’s hope I can avoid a major earthquake while in China!
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