Progress in Earthquake Science and Technology in China: Review and Prospects (I)

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Progress in Earthquake Science and Technology in China: Review and Prospects (I)

In the article the author looks back the hard development course and great progress in earthquake science and technology in China during the last near a half of century and expounds the following 3 aspects: (1) The strong desire of the whole society to mitigate seismic disasters and reduce the effect of earthquakes on social-economic live is a great driving force to push forward the development of earthquake science and technology in China; (2) To better ensure people's life and property, sustainable economic development, and social stability is an essential purpose to drive the development of earthquake science and technology in China; and (3) To insist on the dialectical connection of setup of technical system for seismic monitoring with the scientific research of earthquakes and to better handle the relation between crucial task, current scientific level, and the feasibility are the important principles to advance the earthquake science and technology in China. Some success and many setbacks in earthquake disaster mitigation consistently enrich our knowledge regarding the complexity of the conditions for earthquake occurrence and the process of earthquake preparation, promote the reconstruction and modernization of technical system for earthquake monitoring, and deepen the scientific research of earthquakes. During the last 5 years, the improvement and modernization of technical system for earthquake monitoring have clearly provided the technical support to study and practice of earthquake prediction and precaution, give prominence to key problems and broaden the field of scientific research of earthquakes. These have enabled us to get some new recognition of the conditions for earthquake occurrence and process of earthquake preparation, characteristics of seismic disaster, and mechanism for earthquake generation in China's continent. The progress we have made not only encourages us to enhance the effectiveness of earthquake disaster mitigation, but also provides a basis for accelerating further development of earthquake science and technology in China in the new century, especially in the 10th five-year plan. Based on the history reviewed, the author sets forth a general requirement for development of earthquake science and technology in China and brings out 10 aspects to be stressed and strengthened at present and in the future. These are: upgrade and setup of the network of digitized seismic observation ; upgrade and setup of the network for observation of seismic precursors; setup of the network for observation of strong motion; setup of the laboratories for experiment on seismic regime; establishment of technical system for seismic information, emergency command and urgent rescue; research on short-term and imminent earthquake prediction; research on intermediate- and long-term earthquake prediction; research on attenuation of seismic ground motion, mechanism for seismic disaster, and control on seismic disaster; basic research fields related to seismology and geoscience. We expect that these efforts will significantly elevate the level of earthquake science and technology in China to the advanced international level, improve theories, techniques, and methods for earthquake precaution and prediction, and enhance the effectiveness of earthquake disaster mitigation.