Jilin Earthquake

An earthquake which was 4.3 magnitude happened in Jilin Province on March 20. The major cities that were affected are Jilin, Changchun, Liaoyuan, Siping and some parts of Liaoning Province. However, the magnitude of the earthquake was not that strong to cause any damage. The Media recorded that there was no fore-shocks and aftershocks, so it didn't cause any collapses of buildings. In addition, there were several schools that were affected by the earthquake, and the leaders of the schools made a quick and effective decision which was to let all the students leave the classroom and stay in the field together. Thanks to the effort of the leaders, there were no students that were hurted by the earthquake.

After the earthquake took place, seismologists studied this specific case of earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake locates at the boundary of Yitong City and Gongzhuling City which is 43.3N and 124.9°E. The focus is about 19 meters below the epicenter, so it should be a shallow focus. Furthermore, the seismologists found that the focus is not on a plate boundary. Thus, it is not resulted from the pressure of friction between different plates. Therefore, I assume that it may be caused by the over-extraction of mines which could result in some cavities inside the rocks underground. As the cavities accumulate, the rock and soil become so loose that it collapses which could result in an earthquake.
In a word, as human beings, we should recognize some serious problems as we start to encounter more and more natural disasters. We are not living on this Earth along, there are still other parts of the planet, and NATURE is part of it. Protecting the environment is not only good for the nature, but also for all of us.