Question

有关地震的英文介绍（高一水平）

Answer 1

An earthquake reaching magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale hit Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province in Southwestern China at 2:28 P.M. on May 12 Beijing time (2:28 A.M. May 12, U.S. Eastern time).

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, by 8:20 P.M. Beijing time the earthquake killed at least 8689 people and left more than 10,000 injured. The death toll is expected to rise as workers remove the rubble.

Tremors were felt in the entire region from Beijing in North China, Shanghai in the east to Hong Kong and Taiwan in the far south; tremors could be felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand and Hanoi, in Viet Nam.

The region of the quake's epicenter, Wenchuan County, has been completely out of reach, according to Sichuan Earthquake Bureau, the earthquake has apparently destroyed all communications facilities. Therefore, actual casualties are expected to be far higher than the 8689 verified deaths in Sichuan and surrounding Gansu and Yunnan provinces and Chongqing Municipality.

Answer 2

An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes may manifest themselves by a shaking or displacement of the ground and sometimes tsunamis, which may lead to loss of life and destruction of property.

Earthquakes may occur naturally or as a result of human activities. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves.