BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 that killed at least 126 people in western China near Nepal on Tuesday was one of the country’s deadliest in recent years.
Earthquakes in China happen most frequently on the Tibetan Plateau or its fringes. The seismically active area is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts that can be strong enough to change the heights of Himalayan peaks.
In May 2008, a 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province in the southwest killed nearly 90,000 people. The collapse of schools and other buildings led to a yearslong effort to rebuild using more quake-resistant materials.
FILE -Rescuers try to retrieve a trapped victim’s body from a collapsed house following a massive earthquake in the town of Longtoushan in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Aug. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Other deadly earthquakes have struck in Yunnan province to the south of Sichuan and in Qinghai and Gansu provinces.
Here’s a list of major recent earthquakes:
— May 2008: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake leaves nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in Sichuan province.
— April 2010: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake kills 2,698 people in Qinghai province.
— April 2013: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake kills 196 people in Sichuan.
— July 2013: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake kills 95 people in Gansu province.
— Aug. 2014: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake kills 617 people in Yunnan province.
— Sept. 2022: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills 93 people in Sichuan.
— Dec. 2023: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake kills at least 126 people in Gansu and Qinghai provinces.
FILE -In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers deliver supplies via a temporary bridge in the aftermath of an earthquake near Moxi Town of Luding County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Sept. 8, 2022. (Shen Bohan/Xinhua via AP, File)
FILE -In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers deliver supplies via a temporary bridge in the aftermath of an earthquake near Moxi Town of Luding County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Sept. 8, 2022. (Shen Bohan/Xinhua via AP, File)
FILE -A Hui ethnic minority man walks past cracked walls and collapsed brick walls in the aftermath of an earthquake in Dahejia town in northwest China’s Gansu province, Dec. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
FILE -Tibetan women weep during a mass cremation for victims of earthquake in Yushu County, northwest China’s Qinghai province, April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE -A woman sits on the remnants of a quake destroyed house in Lalu village of Hetuo township in Minxian in northwest China’s Gansu province, July 22, 2013. (AP Photo, File)
FILE -A portrait of Mao Zedong near writing commemorating Chinese ancestors is displayed on a wall damaged by earthquake near Shangli town in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, April 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, people stand amidst damaged houses in the aftermath of an earthquake in Tonglai Village, Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China’s Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)