A major tsunami struck China’s southern coast in 1076 causing “drastic cultural decline,” Chinese researchers said, in a study with implications for a densely populated region boasting multiple coastal nuclear power plants.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting an earthquake in the Manila Trench sent a wall of water coursing into what is now China’s Guangdong Province about a thousand years ago.
Now scientists believe they have narrowed down the date to an exact year — 1076 — and say the new data should set alarm bells ringing over whether enough is being done to defend against future tsunamis.
“This study confirms the risk of tsunamis in the South China Sea,” the research teams from the University of Science and Technology and East China Normal University wrote in this month’s issue of Chinese Science Bulletin.
“Such risk should be considered in future planning and construction of nuclear power plant, harbor and petroleum reserve structures on the coastlines of China,” they said.
A number of nuclear power plants sit on China’s southern coast, including at Fuqing, Daya Bay and a soon-to-open plant at Taishan.
The wider area is also one of the world’s most densely populated regions and includes multiple major coastal cities such as Hong Kong, Macau, Xiamen and Quanzhou.
The vulnerability of nuclear power plants to seismic events has become a major cause for concern ever since a 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The Chinese research team first found evidence of a destructive historical wave on Lincoln Island (Hewu Island, 和五島) located in the middle of the South China Sea, in 2013.
They discovered rocks and corals that had been moved 200m from the shoreline and concluded only a major force of water could have been responsible.
Another team found shards of ceramics in tsunami sediment from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) on Nan Ao Island (南澳島), about 250km up the coast from Hong Kong’s eastern side.
East China Normal University professor Gao Shu (高抒) told Xinhua news agency that the southeast tip of the island used to be a town with official kilns for making porcelain.
Researchers struggled to find any archaeological artifacts from after the suspected wave until the later Ming dynasty.
They also found a shipwreck with 20,000 coins from around the time the tsunami might have struck.
“This cultural evidence indicates a drastic cultural decline caused by the tsunami,” they wrote.
China has begun moves to gather data in the South China Sea about potential tsunami threats, deploying early warning buoys off the Manila Trench last year.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS