Long Wait Before Next China Quake?
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Mountains in China flank the Min River, which flows near the epicenter of the Wenchuan quake. Credit: K. Cook, MIT
A new analysis of the setting for May's devastating earthquake in China shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity--and that similar events in that area occur, on average, only once every 2,000 to 10,000 years. However, geologists caution that because earthquakes can sometimes occur in clusters, people should still be wary of another possible large-scale earthquake.
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