<Click here for the Station data.
The objective is to create an educational seismic network throughout China that shares data from the THIS Educational Seismic Network (THIS-ESN) and facilitates collaboration with schools, agencies, and organizations to add schools to the THIS-ESN and promote public Earthquake Education through local Educational Forums. Moreover, the data will be linked into the Global Seismic Network. This project will enhance outreach and education in China about earthquake risks and hazards, introduce seismology to a wider audience, stimulate interest in research among high school students, and develop students’ programming, data collection and analysis skills.
The Seismology Team includes 4 Working Groups:
-Seismic Data Analysis Group
-Education and Outreach Group
-Networking and Development Group
-Advertising Group
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Seismic Data Analysis |
Mr. Michael Brunt |
This Group will be responsible for the installation of the seismographs, maintaining records of earthquake events, preparation of data for research purposes, and analysis of seismic data from all seismographs on the THIS Educational Seismic Network. |
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Eric Jia |
Group Lead |
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Jeffrey Wang |
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Will Li |
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Education and Outreach |
Ms. Aden Ghebre – Educational Social Media platforms Nathalia Hardy- Website Development; Research, Educational outreach materials |
This Working Group will be responsible for the research and preparation of the education and outreach materials and will deliver educational forums to new member schools, and assist with their program. |
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Michelle (Yaran) Zhou |
Group Co-Lead |
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Jeffry Wang |
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Maggie Pan |
Group Co-Lead |
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William Shan |
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Jessica Ye |
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Rebecca Cui |
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Nikole Kamensaengsai Cui |
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Networking and Development |
Mr. Michael Brunt |
This Working Group will assist in identifying international schools in the proposed areas to host seismographs and collaborate with the school to plan implementation and ensure uninterrupted conductivity of the school seismograph on the THIS Educational Seismic Network. |
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Jessica Ye |
Group Co-Lead |
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Will Li |
Group Co-Lead |
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Michelle (Yaran) Zhou |
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Eric Jia |
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William Shan |
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Advertising |
Ms. Aden Ghebre |
This Group will be responsible for developing team logos (Completed); team t-shirts (Completed) and materials for Networking and development |
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Rebecca |
Group Lead |
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Eric Jia |
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Will Li |
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Maggie Pan |
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Nikole Kamensaengsai Cui |
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China has been the site of several of the most significant quakes in history. The world’s most devastating earthquake occurred near Shaanxi in 1556 (Britannica). The world’s third and fourth deadliest quakes occurred in Tangshan in 1976 and in Haiyuan in 1920, respectively. The Haiyuan earthquake razed two cities to the ground and severely damaged five others as the earthquake “ripped along 240 km“of a fault in north-central China that had been inactive for 1,000 years (Ravilious). During the Sichuan quake of 2008, approximately 90,000 people died, an additional 700,000 people were injured, and extensive property damage reached Beijing (Rafferty). The deadliest earthquakes are not always the strongest, instead, they occur in areas with inadequate preparation, infrastructure, and dense populations. The chart below highlights some of the significant earthquakes in China.
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Date |
Location |
Magnitude |
Death Toll (approximate)(Allen). |
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1556 |
Shaanxi |
8.0 |
830,000 |
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1920 |
Haiyuan |
8.3 |
230,000 |
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1950 |
Assam-Tibet |
8.6 |
4,800 |
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1970 |
Tonghai |
7.7 |
15,000 |
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1976 |
Tangshan |
7.8 |
270,500-655,000 |
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1985 |
Yunnan |
7.1 |
3,000 |
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1996 |
Lijiang |
6.6 |
322 |
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2008 |
Sichuan |
7.9 |
90,000* |
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2010 |
Yushu |
6.9 |
2,700 |
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2014 |
Ludian |
6.5 |
617 |
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2022 |
Chengdu** |
6.6 |
65 |
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2022 |
Taitung |
6.9 |
3 |
Impact of an Educational Seismic Network
An educational seismic network in China is needed because the existing earthquake network belongs to the Chinese government and the data is generally not accessible to schools and students. The THIS-ESN network will be linked into a global network giving schools and the public access to real-time seismic data from across China. Through the connection to the global network, schools will also gain access to real-time data from seismographs worldwide.
The Tsinghua International School (“THIS”) Seismology Team creates opportunities for committed students to become part of the seismological community by engaging in analysis of real-time scientific data with tangible outcomes, while learning a broad range of subjects, including physics and geoscience. The THIS Seismology Team will then share this understanding with students in schools around China to stimulate student excitement in science education and careers in science, seismology, and the geosciences.
We will collaborate with agencies, organizations, and educational institutions to spread awareness of earthquake dangers. By working with students in schools around China, we will increase earthquake awareness, promote student research, and empower students to develop earthquake awareness materials for their communities.
