Scientists map cities at risk of quakes

Geologists have finished mapping active faults in 50 provincial capitals and major cities to help designate no-building zones to reduce the loss of life and property if major earthquakes strike densely populated areas.

The need for the work was highlighted in August after the Zhaotong fault running across the northeast of Yunnan province unleashed a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that flattened Longtoushan town. More than 600 people were killed in the quake.

It is impossible to predict when an earthquake will happen, but people can bring its damage under control by avoiding building on active faults, said Xu Xiwei , the deputy director of the National Centre for Active Fault Studies, under the state earthquake agency.

The agency began a 490 million yuan (HK$618 million) national project in 2003 to mark the boundaries of active faults running across the country's most populated areas through techniques including drilling and remote sensing.

"We have made active fault maps for 50 provincial capitals and other major cities and are working on another 50 prefecture-level cities," Xu told the South China Morning Post.

If the government could introduce legislation to ban the construction of buildings in these fault zones, he said, the cities would see much fewer casualties caused by the collapse of buildings if they were hit by major earthquakes.