M6.2 Gansu, China

Similar Stochastic Events | Summary
Posting Date: December 19, 2023, 2:00:00 PM

A magnitude 6.2 (per Chinese authorities) earthquake struck Gansu prefecture in northwest China on Monday, killing at least 130 people.  The temblor, measured at M5.9 by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), damaged or destroyed more than 155,000 buildings, according to Chinese government estimates.  Among the hardest hit locales was Jishishan county, the location of the epicenter, in which more than 100 fatalities occurred and upwards of 5,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.  Rescue efforts in the affected areas have been impacted by cold temperatures, as low as -15 degrees C in the morning following the event.   

ALERT™ subscribers can download similar stochastic event (SSE) IDs for the recent M6.2 earthquake in Gansu, China from the Downloads tab of this posting. Compatible with Touchstone® and Touchstone Re™, the SSEs were selected based on the event’s location, magnitude, and depth. They should only be used with exposures in China.

According to the USGS, this earthquake occurred at a shallow depth. The earthquake occurred on either a north-striking, steeply dipping, reverse fault or a south-southeast striking, shallowing-dipping, reverse fault. The region where the December 18th earthquake occurred is an intraplate (i.e., not at a plate boundary) region located on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is a high topographic region north of the Himalaya Mountains that developed in response to ongoing collision between the India and Eurasia plates.

The Tibetan Plateau is tectonically active, and earthquakes are common throughout the region. Within 250 kilometers of today's event, 23 M5.5 and larger earthquakes have occurred since 1900. The largest of these is a M7.7 earthquake in May 1927, to the north that resulted in roughly 40,000 fatalities. The 1927 earthquake resulted in extreme damage in the Gulan-Wuwei area and resulted in damaging landslides. In April 1990, a M6.5 earthquake, immediately preceded by a M6.3 foreshock and followed by a M6.3 aftershock, led to at least 126 fatalities and extensive shaking damage and landslides. Earthquake-related economic losses in China are common, even for moderate magnitude earthquakes, owing to the proximity of large population centers to shaking, the prevalence of structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, and the occurrence of landslides in steep topography.

Gansu is one of the poorest areas of China, with construction of most dwellings being mud or clay, highly susceptible to ground shaking.  As such, insurance take up in the region is extremely low, especially on residences.  While the local economic and human tolls from this event will likely be significant, it is not expected to be a major insured loss occurrence for the global market.

No additional ALERTs are planned for this event.  Please contact your Verisk representative with any additional questions.

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Posting Date: December 19, 2023, 2:00:00 PM

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