On the evening of January 10th at 20:31, a 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck Yaocheng District, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, with a depth of 20 kilometers. Local residents quickly took to the internet to report feeling noticeable tremors. As of now, there have been no reports of casualties.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 36.16 degrees north latitude and 111.23 degrees east longitude, approximately 27 kilometers from Linfen City and 220 kilometers from Taiyuan City.
The China Earthquake Early Warning Network stated that despite the relatively low magnitude of the earthquake, the shaking was clearly felt in the area.
A resident of Yaocheng District in Linfen City, Lu Yan, told a Chinese news website that before the earthquake, she was watching TV when both the television and her phone simultaneously issued an earthquake warning, after which she felt the shaking.
“My high school child felt the shaking very clearly, classmates ran to the playground, and the school let out early,” she said. After the earthquake, she and her family drove to a gas station where the staff mentioned a higher than usual number of vehicles refueling.
Some internet users from Shanxi also expressed their experiences, “I’m in Yaocheng District, didn’t feel any shaking,” and “I’m in Yaocheng District, why didn’t I feel it? I saw a bunch of people downstairs saying there was an earthquake so I came down too.”
Others shared their experiences, “Felt it in Jinzhong. At first tremor, I thought I was just feeling dizzy from hunger. Then there was a second tremor!” or “Yes, I felt the bed moving for a few seconds.” Some described details like, “I’m on the third floor of Linfen Wuzhong. During class, I suddenly felt my legs trembling a bit, then a phone rang, followed by a noise from the ceiling, and I immediately realized it was an earthquake and rushed outside.”
It is known that earthquakes smaller than magnitude 2.5 are generally not felt by people, those between 2.5 and 5.0 may be felt to varying degrees near the epicenter, and those above 5.0 can cause different levels of damage to buildings.
According to the quick reporting catalog of the China Earthquake Networks Center, within a radius of 200 kilometers around the epicenter, there have been a total of 9 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or above in the past five years, the largest being this recent earthquake. The China Earthquake Administration has initiated a level four emergency response to the situation.