China Earthquake Coming. Make Mine A Shanghai.
The Catching Mice in China Blog (a really good new China tech blog) did a post on the recent popularity of Chengdu for data centers. Seems Microsoft and HP are leading this charge. The post is cleverly entitled, "I’d Like My Data Center Not Shaken, Not Stirred, and Very, Very Dry," in reference to Chengdu being both earthquake and flood prone.
According to the post, the "British Geological Survey (BGS) gives Chengdu a rating of 6 out of 10 for earthquake risk. Beijing and Wuhan are rated at 7, while Shanghai comes in at 2." I do not know exactly what that means, but I do know the 2 is better than the 7. The post also links over to a list of China earthquakes and it has a cool map showing earthquake tendencies in the area around Chengdu. This is relevant information in deciding where to locate a business.
Shanghai 1. Beijing 0. No Chengdu (meant to sound like no can do).
Comments (10)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endLaw Office of Todd L. Platek - September 9, 2007 2:22 PM
Dan, A tsunami will likely finish off Shanghai if an earthquake doesn't take her down first.
jim - September 9, 2007 7:01 PM
Thanks!
Time to sit back, relax, and enjoy typhoon season in Shanghai.
jim
Duncan - September 10, 2007 2:13 AM
Isn't Shanghai meant to be sinking into the sea anyway? Haven't heard anything on that story for a while!
astrid - September 10, 2007 6:46 AM
If the Three Gorges Dam breaks due to shoddy construction, we can say bye bye to a quarter of China right then and there.
chriswaugh_bj - September 10, 2007 6:55 AM
Sorry, but I wouldn't trust that British Geological Survey any further than I could throw it. If they give Beijing a 7 for earthquake risk, what the hell would they give my hometown, Wellington? Ridiculous. And forget Shanghai, it's sinking, it's already only just above sea level, and sea levels are rising. Anyway, I just don't trust any geological anything from a country that does not have earthquakes to tell me about earthquakes.
kmm - September 10, 2007 12:52 PM
The threat of earthquakes didn't really do anything to stop the development of the high tech industry in San Francisco and Silicon Valley; and, regardless, everything seems to be pretty stable on the ground here in Chengdu. Local sources say they can remember no earthquake happening in their lifetime and if there is any danger they seem to be completely unaware of it.
Intel just opened a major new plant here. According to their website: "The Chengdu site employs over 600 people and there are plans to expand the site. Intel selected Chengdu because of its strategic location, the quality of its educational system and the well-trained workforce in the region."
Western China is a massive place. Sichuan alone is about the same size and population of Germany. Development here still lags behind many of the big east coast cities, but I think that's probably why these companies are moving here--there's a whole lot of potential, encouraged by the relatively low cost of just about everything when compared to Shanghai, Beijing, or Shenzhen. The universities here also provide an excellent source of high quality potential employees, who would much rather work here in their home province than anywhere along the coast.
chriswaugh_bj - September 11, 2007 5:58 AM
And Dan: Aren't you in Seattle? What surprises me about Oregon, Washington and British Columbia is not that you have the occasional earthquake; but that you get so few of them. You're sitting right on top of a huge subduction zone (that's where the Cascades and all their volcanoes come from), and that subduction zone is part of the very same Pacific Ring of Fire that shakes my hometown and the eastern part of China.
nanheyangrouchuan - September 11, 2007 8:23 PM
China's vulnerability to earthquakes is not from geology, no one can help that, but due to shoddy building construction (like shoddy toys, shoddy cars, shoddy food, etc). BTW if you are wondering about Shanghai's exposure to earthquakes, be aware that Japanese companies that own their buildings build them to Tokyo city code, complete with vibration dampeners and the like. Are the Japanese acknowledging something that no one else is?
Andy T - May 12, 2008 11:02 PM
I got a copy of China's building code from a friend of mine in 2002[2 book, total 6' thick. I'm not sure it is the official one or not]. China building code is a mix code of British, American, German and Japan code [not complete digested to be their own] has a section for earthquakes proof. Maps of earthquake zone. The requirement is very detail and complete [high construction cost]. The building code enforcement, I'm not sure.
You have to understand earthquake proof code only apply to government building and emergency services building [hospital, fire station, police station] in Toronto.
In Vancouver, earthquake zone, not all building built in earthquake proof code [because of the high building cost]. What do you expect from China?
If the same 7.9 earthquake happen in Vancouver, it will just be the same.
kmm - May 25, 2008 8:16 PM
The threat of earthquakes didn't really do anything to stop the development of the high tech industry in San Francisco and Silicon Valley; and, regardless, everything seems to be pretty stable on the ground here in Chengdu. Local sources say they can remember no earthquake happening in their lifetime and if there is any danger they seem to be completely unaware of it.
Wow, I really sound like a moron now, don't I?