Nations work together in quake-proofing

China may further cooperate with earthquake-prone Chile in quake damage prevention, the country's earthquake watchdog said.

Former Chinese ambassador to Chile Lu Fan and a Chilean official sign documents for the delivery of Chinese quake-relief supplies in Santiago on March 5, 2010. Supplies worth $2 million were delivered. Song Weiwei / Xinhua

Because the two countries, though distant geographically, are both threatened by the high risk of earthquakes, cooperation in earthquake prevention will benefit both, the China Earthquake Administration told China Daily.

It added that the cooperation will further prompt China's cooperation with South America.

An international cooperation plan on earthquake prevention and disaster relief released by the administration in April said introducing foreign earthquake experts, technologies and equipment will enhance China's capacity in earthquake prevention and disaster relief.

Before 2015, China plans to send about 150 young earthquake scholars and scientists to study in other countries to improve the country's earthquake prevention capacity, according to the plan.

The plan emphasized that cooperation with Chile should be strengthened and China should learn from Chile's regulations and laws involving earthquake prevention.

Chile is situated on one of the world's most active fault lines and through experience has developed many technologies to minimize the impact of earthquakes.

In February 2010, Chile was struck by a massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake, one of the strongest in recorded history, which rattled much of the country's south central coast, killing more than 500 people.

Chen Yong, a professor at the Institute of Geophysics under the administration, said compared with the death toll of about 70,000 people in the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, Chile did well in minimizing the death toll and damage.

The strict earthquake standards on Chile's buildings were crucial in reducing the effects of the quake, with only one tall building collapsing, he said in an article on the China Earthquake Administration's website.

In 2001, the China Earthquake Administration signed a cooperation framework with the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile on strengthening technological and scientific exchanges on earthquake prevention.

Zhang Xiaodong, deputy director of the China Earthquake Networks Center, said about 20 earthquakes above magnitude 5 hit China every year, including four above magnitude 6.

On May 12, 2008, a magnitude-8 earthquake hit Sichuan province, a mountainous region in Southwest China, killing about 70,000 people and leaving more than 18,000 missing.

The latest earthquake hit the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces on Sunday, killing at least four people and leaving 128 injured as of Tuesday, according to the Yunnan department of civil affairs.

Contact the writer at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn