Over a period of 5 years, two large earthquakes struck Sichuan Wenchuan and Lushan successively. The two main seismic zones are only 87 km apart along the same seismic belt on the Longmenshan fault. Although there was only one magnitude of difference between the two great quakes, losses from...

A devastating Ms8.0 earthquake struck Wenchuan on May 12, 2008, a historical county in Sichuan Province, southwest China, which affected more than half of China. This article makes a comparative study on the pre-earthquake prevention and post-earthquake reconstruction of 14 world-famous...

Earthquake emergency response and rescue (ERR) is a global challenge, but especially in developing countries. As a large earthquake-prone developing country, China’s experiences and lessons in ERR can provide a useful reference for other developing countries. In this article, China’s ERR...

Spontaneous combustion of coal is a natural hazard during mining. In China, more than 60 % of cases of spontaneous combustion of coal in China result from coal pillars in goafs. In this paper, the plastic deformation of a coal pillar was simulated and, based on the simulated vertical and...