3/10/11 Yunaan, China Quake

Updated 3/27/2011


At 04:58 UTC(11:58 AM local time) a 5.4M quake in southern Yunaan province in China, near the border with Burma caused extensive damage. It was centered 221 miles NE of Mandalay, Burma, 350 miles north of Rangoon, Burma. 25 people were killed, 250 injured and over 6,000 buildings damaged in that quake. The quake was widely felt throughout Southeast Asia. It is in the same general area as the subsequent March 24, 2011 quake centered in northern Burma.

The quake was caused by the movement of the Indian Plate NNE into the Eurasian Plate at the rate of 45mm(1.77 inches)/yr. This is the collision that has made the Himalayas the tallest mountains on earth. Burma is on the eastern edge of this zone. It is subject to earthquakes as India slides past. (See the Plate Tectonics page for more information on these processes.) The US Geological Survey (USGS) is an invaluable resource in understanding and tracking earthquakes. See the USGS summary of this quake.

See also the following news stories:

* China earthquake kills 24 and destroys over 1,000 buildings(Christian Science Monitor 3/10/11)