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Gansu earthquake: scientists in China believe they received an ominous signal days before
- Researchers picked up warning signs on Friday – days before a 6.2 magnitude quake struck Gansu – but were unable to say exactly where it would strike
- The team in Shaanxi looks for abnormalities in gravitational waves, and are now trying to work out how they can calculate where a quake is likely to strike
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Chinese researchers expected an earthquake to strike hours before the deadly 6.2 magnitude quake in the northwestern province of Gansu – but were unable to say where it would happen.
More than 120 people have died since the quake struck just before midnight on Monday, with the epicentre in a township located in the autonomous county of Jishishan.
Predicting earthquakes has almost appeared to be a mission impossible, with most equipment only able to give a few seconds’ warning once it has started.
But researchers in the Chinese province of Shaanxi have developed a groundbreaking technique that has allowed them to forecast successfully every earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 or more that has struck around the globe in the past 10 years.
But to their dismay, there is still no way to predict the location of these earthquakes.
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Earthquake in northwestern China kills more than 110 people, injuring hundreds
Earthquake in northwestern China kills more than 110 people, injuring hundreds
The team uses high-precision equipment to monitor the Earth’s gravitational field at low frequencies, looking for abnormalities in gravitational waves that could be a warning sign an earthquake is imminent.
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