Following the series of earthquakes that shook Ecuador, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Japan in the past couple of days, Chinese citizens worry about China's safety, China Daily reported.
A magnitude-7.1 quake hit Afghanistan on April 10, while Myanmar and Japan both endured above magnitude-7 quakes on April 13 and April 16, respectively. The most recent earthquake happened on April 17--a magnitude-6.1 quake--in the island nation of Tonga.
Chinese citizens have begun to worry whether China will be next, as the memories of the 1976 Tangshan mega-quake is still fresh in the citizens' minds.
Pan Huaiwen, director of the China Earthquake Networks Center, reassured the public in a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Monday, April 18, saying that it's highly unlikely China will be struck by any earthquake soon.
Pan added that there have been 37 serial quakes since 1900, and China has seen little seismic action, having only three quakes above magnitude-7 in three months.
"It doesn't demonstrate that an extremely active seismic period has come," Pan said in the news conference. "And less than 10 percent of those situations were followed by a massive earthquake in China. So statistically, the probability of China having a strong earthquake is not connected with recent frequent earthquakes."
Pan did say, however, that it's highly likely earthquakes will be more frequent this year, especially if it surpasses the average annual number of quakes (18) since 1900.
"The possibility of an earthquake depends on the situation of the tectonic plate on which China sits, but motions of the crustal structure around China could affect the strength of pressure on the Chinese mainland and have an impact on the country's earthquake situation," said Jiang Haikun, a senior researcher from the China Earthquake Networks Center.
"Earthquake prediction is still a global scientific challenge, but our center will keep a close eye on the crustal motion in China, especially the western regions, where more than 90 percent of China's massive earthquakes have occurred," Jiang added.
So far for 2016, China has experienced five magnitude-5+ quakes, which include the magnitude-6.7 earthquake that devastated Taiwan, leaving over 100 people dead.