Quake hits China

I woke up this morning at around 0730 and was struck with the news below:

China Is Hit by 7.5 Magnitude Earthquake Near Chengdu

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- China was hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake near the central city of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said, causing buildings to shake in Beijing more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away.

The quake struck 90 kilometers west-northwest of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, the USGS said on its Web site. Chengdu is the provincial capital of Sichuan and has a population of about 11 million people.

Phone calls from Beijing couldn't be connected to Chengdu and mobile phone networks were down in Beijing and Shanghai.

The quake shook buildings in Beijing for more than three minutes and traffic stopped. Office workers were seen scrambling to get out of China World Tower, Beijing's tallest building. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The earthquake struck about 350 kilometers west-northwest of Chongqing, a city of about 30 million in central China.

It was the world's strongest quake since a 7.8 magnitude temblor struck south of Fiji in the Pacific Ocean in December last year, according to the USGS Web site.

Since I worked as an urban planner in China, I am well aware of the poor quality of the houses in China. Buildings are not made to last much longer than 30 years. The earthquake could potentially have a devastating effect on China's urban zones... Lets hope that there will be no aftershocks.