Late in the night on June 23rd, consecutive earthquakes of magnitudes 5.2 and 4.2 struck within the territory of Da Qaidam in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province. Following preliminary studies, these quakes were determined to be aftershocks of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Da Qaidam on June 16th, with local residents reporting a “strong sense of shaking.”
The China Earthquake Networks Center officially reported that two earthquakes occurred consecutively in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province on June 23rd. The first one, with a magnitude of 5.2, struck at 23:29, with a depth of 8 kilometers and an epicenter located at 37.86 degrees north latitude, 95.54 degrees east longitude. The second, a 4.2 magnitude quake, occurred at 23:56 with a depth of 10 kilometers and an epicenter at 37.85 degrees north latitude, 95.54 degrees east longitude.
According to the news from the “Haixi Bulletin” public account, the epicenter of these earthquakes was approximately 15 kilometers from the town of Chaidan in Da Qaidam and deviated about 3 kilometers northeast from the epicenter of the June 16th 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Based on initial studies, these tremors were determined to be aftershocks of the 6.3 magnitude quake on June 16th.
In the afternoon of June 24th, Mr. Zhou (alias) who was traveling in Golmud City, shared with the “Nine Party News” that during the earthquake, he and his wife were lying on the fourth floor of a hotel getting ready to sleep when suddenly they felt the world spinning around them. The curtains, bed, everything was shaking along with a distinct tremor. However, the shaking only lasted for a few seconds before stopping. Initially, he thought it was his imagination and did not associate it with an earthquake. It was only after hearing someone outside shout “earthquake” that he immediately called his wife to put on clothes and evacuate downstairs.
“This was my first personal experience of an earthquake in my life. At that time, we hurriedly ran downstairs without a fixed plan. But once downstairs, we noticed that there weren’t many people around, perhaps some were asleep and didn’t notice the earthquake. We stayed downstairs for a short while before going back upstairs. Initially, we were too afraid to sleep, fearing aftershocks, but later when everything seemed normal, we rested,” he said.
Additionally, as reported by the “The Beijing News,” local residents mentioned living in disaster relief tents and feeling the ground shaking, leading to the sounding of alarms. Preliminary assessments showed that local communications, power supply, and road traffic were normal, and there were no reports of casualties in key relocation sites.
Earlier on June 16th, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake had struck the Haixi Prefecture, causing 1 death and 8 injuries.