Comment by bill on January 12, 2011 at 11:02am: 12 January 2011 Shanghai: 5.0 Magitude quake hits South yellow Sea,...

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter Scale hit south Yellow Sea at 9:19 a.m. (Beijing Time) Wednesday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The epicenter was monitored at 33.3 degrees north latitude and 123.9 degrees east longitude with a depth of 10 kilometers, the center said.

Some residents in Pudong and other areas of east China's Shanghai Municipality reported they felt the quake

Comment by bill on January 10, 2011 at 11:18am: 10 January 2011 South China: South to endure more freezing weather, blizzards and sleet

Another cold snap threatens to freeze parts of southern China this week, adding to the traffic disruptions caused by the snow and icy rain that have fallen since New Year's Day.

From Sunday until Thursday, most of Guizhou province, and parts of neighboring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Yunnan province, will experience more icy rain, the National Meteorological Center forecast on Sunday.

Heavy snow will fall in most parts of Central China's Hunan province, it said.

Snow is also expected in some areas in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, the forecast said.

Thousands of vehicles lined up along dozens of kilometers on a major national highway in Zhaotong city in Yunnan as ice covered the road, trapping the vehicles, local police said.

Police banned driving along an icy section of the highway between Zhaotong's Zhaoyang district and Daguan county after sunset and tried to clear the icy section by section in the daylight.

Zhaoyang district's traffic was very slow on Sunday morning because a thin layer of ice had accumulated after earlier snowfalls, local resident Li Ren'an said on Sunday.

In Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, prolonged low temperatures and freezing rain disrupted the operation of mountain highways linking remote towns and villages. About 787,500 people had been affected by the cold weather since New Year's Day.

The freezing weather also damaged water pipes, cutting off supply to 270,000 residents.

As of Friday, the freezing weather had prompted the evacuation of 60,000 people from damaged homes in southern China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

On Sunday morning, the Ministry of Public Security ordered local police departments in 13 provinces to improve plans for traffic management in bad weather in the run-up to the Chinese New Year on Feb 3.

The provinces should cooperate to redirect traffic in case of icy roads, Vice-Minister of Public Security Huang Ming said at a conference on Sunday morning.

Expressways, especially inter-provincial ones, should not be closed without ministry approval, Huang added.

Snowfall also affected traffic in Qingdao city in East China's Shandong province on Sunday. The blizzard shut down six toll gates on the Qingdao-Yinchuan expressway, and caused flight delays and cancellations at the city's airport.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

By Yan Jie and Guo Anfei, China Daily

Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7254588.html

Comment by bill on January 10, 2011 at 11:14am: 9 January 2011 NE China: Earthquake hits Jilin Province

AN earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale hit Hunchun City of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China's Jilin Province at 7:34am yesterday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

There have been no reports of casualties or damage in the area. The quake's epicenter was about 470 kilometers from Changchun, the provincial capital.

Link: http://english.eastday.com/e/110109/u1a5656789.html

Comment by bill on January 8, 2011 at 12:26pm: 8 January 2011 NW China: Big freeze closes NW China primary schools

URUMQI - The coldest weather in decades has forced all primary schools, which educate 40,000 pupils, in Shihezi, in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to suspend classes.

Many roads have been blocked by snow and ice in Shihezi, a sub-prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang, after it was hit hard by the biggest plunge in temperature so far this winter, with the lowest temperature reaching -41 C, according to the local meteorological bureau.

"We've decided to close all primary schools in the city and nearby reclamation farms of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on Thursday and Friday," an officer surnamed Chang of Shihezi Education Bureau told China Daily on Friday.

"Although the heating system in schools is working well, we worry about the students' safety on their way to school."

A total of 56 primary and middle schools with about 17,000 students in Altay, in northern Xinjiang, were closed on Friday and the students have begun to take their winter holiday 15 days earlier due to the severe cold.

The livestock industry was also affected.

"The winter in Altay is bitterly cold, especially this year," said Xie Zeren, director of the office of the Altay Education Bureau.

"Our schools had been asked to start the new semester 15 days ahead, in August 2010, in a bid to complete class 15 days earlier and dodge the cold snap in January."

It was the first time Altay had taken such a measure.

In January 2010, the Altay and Tacheng regions suffered the worst winter in six decades, when 13 people died and 1,168 were injured.

"The snow disaster (last year) happened just when our students got ready to go back home for the winter holiday," said Xie.

"Thousands of students and teachers were stranded at schools because of the heavy snow and freezing temperature."

Icy weather has also caused traffic chaos in Urumqi, the regional capital, where the temperature remains at around -25 C.

"I waited for the bus for nearly two hours this morning and finally found one coming but it was too crowded to get on," said one passenger in a thick red coat at a bus station.

The Urumqi government has installed 500 buses at the main stations as waiting rooms for passengers.

The Xinjiang regional meteorology bureau said even though the temperature will rise on Saturday and Sunday, the cold snap will continue into next week.

Link: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-01/08/content_11812652.htm

Comment by bill on January 8, 2011 at 12:11pm: 8 January 2011 North Eastern China: Moderate Earthquake Hits North Eastern China City

BEIJING, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale hit Hunchun City of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China's Jilin Province at 7:34 a.m. Beijing Time Saturday, Xinhua news agency cited to the China Earthquake Networks Centre as saying.

The epicentre was monitored at 43 degrees north latitude and 131.1 degrees east longitude with a depth of about 560 kilometres, the centre said.

There has been no report of casualties or damages in the area.

The centre said many earthquakes measuring between six and seven degrees on the Richter Scale had hit the region in the past but caused no casualties and damages.

In a phone interview with Xinhua, a Hunchun resident said no tremor was felt.

The epicentre is about 60 kilometres away from Hunchun's county seat and 470 kilometres away from Changchun, capital city of Jilin, according to the centre.

Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=555065

Comment by bill on January 8, 2011 at 12:06pm: 8 January 2011 Beijing: Cold Front To Sweep China, Dragging Temperatures Down

BEIJING, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- A cold front would sweep central and east China over the next three days, bringing gusty winds and temperature drops, the National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said Saturday.

Affected by the cold spell, temperatures would drop by four to eight degrees Celsius in central and east China, and even by 10 degrees in some areas of the region, Xinhua quoted the NMC as saying in a statement posted on its website.

South China, which is battling freezing temperatures and icy rain, will continue to experience the inclement weather over the next three days, the NMC warned.

Some parts of Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces would be hit by heavy snow while west Yunnan, south Hunan and northeast Guangdong would see icy rain over the next three days, the statement said.

Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=555079

Comment by bill on January 6, 2011 at 11:39am: 6 January 2011 South China: Residents hit by big freeze

A sanitation worker smiles through a mask of ice on Wednesday in Karamay, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Temperatures in the city dropped to below -30 C in recent days.

ANNING - Icy weather and sleet have affected more than 3.83 million people across South China since Saturday, with the cold snap forecast to last 10 more days.

The harsh weather, which arrived on New Year's Day, has also driven up grocery prices and cut supplies in some cities.

As of 5 pm on Tuesday, the freezing conditions had killed one person and forced the evacuation of 58,000 residents in Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing municipality, according to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday.

More than 1,200 houses have collapsed and another 6,600 damaged. The frost has also affected about 142,400 hectares of crops, reads the statement.

Direct economic losses are estimated to hit 1.35 billion yuan ($204 million). The ministry has ordered local civil affairs offices to take measures to minimize losses.

Relief workers will deliver supplies of food, water, blankets, clothes and quilts to those affected to "ensure no one suffers from cold or hunger", said the statement.

The ministry has prepared 30,000 quilts and 30,000 cotton-padded coats for evacuated residents in Hunan and 50,000 quilts and 50,000 cotton-padded coats for those in Guizhou.

The National Meteorological Center said on Wednesday that the freezing weather is likely to continue for at least another week.

At an isolated town cut off by the freezing weather in Ziyuan county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, vegetables, meat and eggs were still in stock on Wednesday, but prices had risen 20 percent for radishes and 50 percent for chilies.

"All groceries are trucked in from the neighboring city of Guilin. Now the ice-covered highway is open for only a few hours a day," said Huang Yongyue, Party chief of Ziyuan.

Authorities in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou, capped the price on Chinese cabbage and radishes, the two most common vegetables on the dinner table, to prevent price hikes.

More than 100 primary schools in Guiyang's Yuyan district and Kaiyang county have suspended classes over safety concerns, said a spokesman for the provincial education department.

Bad weather has also hit Hunan and Chongqing, bringing traffic to a standstill on icy expressways.

In Hunan's Xiangxi and Huaihua, most bus services were suspended. On State Highway No 319, which zigzags through western parts of the province, toppled vehicles and stranded passengers could be seen almost every kilometer.

In Chongqing, the cold snap froze 285 km of pipeline taking drinking water to Youyang county on Wednesday, cutting supplies to 85,000 residents, a county government spokesman said.

The cold snap has put extra pressure on the power grid as more residents turn on air conditioners and electric heaters to stave off the winter chill. Only northern China has coal and gas-fueled central heating because southern provinces are traditionally believed to be warmer.

Cold waves have also ravaged Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Temperatures dropped to as low as -49 C in Altay prefecture and below -30 C in the city of Karamay in recent days

Link: http://english.eastday.com/e/110106/u1a5650904.html

Comment by KM on January 5, 2011 at 1:28pm: Thank you Bill for all this great information!

Comment by bill on January 5, 2011 at 12:47pm: 5 January 2011 SW China: SW China hit by wave of tremors

SW China hit by wave of tremors

2011-01-05 07:14:07 GMT2011-01-05 15:14:07 (Beijing Time) SINA.com

More than 90 tremors hit parts of Yunnan province in southwest China in just three days.

Chinese state television showed the scale of the destruction as aftershocks continued to make their presence felt.

No casualties have been reported but more than 8, 000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

SOUNDBITE: Local resident Jin Mifang saying (Mandarin):

"I don't have a house any more. I don't know where to stay."

Temporary shelters have been set up for more than 80, 000 people in Yingjiang county which bore the brunt of the tremors of up to 4.9 magnitude.

The region lies along a seismic belt.

In 2008 it was hit by a big earthquake that claimed the lives of almost 90, 000 people.

(Reuters)

Video Link: http://english.sina.com/video/2011/0104/354735.html

Comment by bill on January 5, 2011 at 12:40pm: 5 January 2011 SW China: Frozen weather paralyzes SW province

A man walks on ice-covered farmland in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011.[Photo/Xinhua]

Power lines are coated in ice in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

A communication station is covered by heavy snow in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ice-covered plants are seen roadside in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

People shovel snow by the road in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ice-covered roads and plants are seen roadside in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011.

The province has been battling freezing weather since Dec 31, which is affecting more than 160 million residents and causing a direct economic loss of more than 70 million yuan ($10.62 million). Icy roads are causing traffic gridlocks. Provincial weather authorities have launched an emergency response plan for disaster relief work.

‹ Previous
1
2
3
Next ›

RSS

Welcome to
Earth Changes and the Pole Shift

Sign Up
or Sign In

SEARCH

FUND RAISERS

Mirror Site GOAL MET after 14 hours.

Ning Fees GOAL MET after only an hour!

Thank You!

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service

Keeping an eye on China

You need to be a member of Earth Changes and the Pole Shift to add comments!

SW China hit by wave of tremors

A man walks on ice-covered farmland in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011.[Photo/Xinhua]

Power lines are coated in ice in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

A communication station is covered by heavy snow in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ice-covered plants are seen roadside in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

People shovel snow by the road in Kaiyang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Jan 4, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

SEARCH

FUND RAISERS