Ya'anearthquakelessdisastrousthanWenchuandisaster:expert

　　BEIJING,April20(Xinhua)--The7.0-magnitudeearthquakejoltingYa'anCityinsouthwestChina'sSichuanProvinceSaturdaymorningisexpectedtocauselesslossesthantheWenchuandisasterinthesameprovincefiveyearsago,anexperthaspredicted.

　　TheYa'anquakehasresultedinseriouscasualtiesandeconomiclosses,butitisnotexpectedtobeasdisastrousasthe8.0-magnitudeWenchuanquakethatleft87,000deadormissinginMay2008,saidPanHuaiwen,directoroftheChinaEarthquakeNetworksCenter(CENC).

　　TheChinaEarthquakeAdministrationsaidSaturdayafternoonthat71peoplewerekilledintheYa'anquake.

　　Possibilitiesofaftershocksstrongerthan7.0-magnitudearesmall,hesaid.

　　ButPanwarnedofaftershocksandsecondarydisasters,includinglandslides,mud-rockflows,andthecollapseofcavesandriverbanks.

　　Atotalof264aftershockshadbeenmonitoredasof12p.m.,twoofwhichwereabove5.0-magnitude,accordingtotheCENC.

　　Theepicenterofthe7.0magnitudequake,withadepthof13km,wasmonitoredat30.3degreesnorthlatitudeand103.0degreeseastlongitude.

　　JiangHaikun,anofficialwiththeCENC'sforecastingdepartment,saidtheYa'anquakeresemblesthatoftheWenchuandisaster,asbothearthquakeswereformedinasimilarway,occurringontheLongmenmountainfaultzone.

　　Earthquakesonthis500-kmbeltarenotfrequent,butverypowerful.Twelvequakesabove5.0-magnitudehaveoccurredsince1900,includingWenchuanasthemostpowerfulone,Jiangsaid.

　　TheYa'anquakewasnotanaftershockoftheWenchuanearthquake,hesaid.

　　Ya'anhasapopulationof1.53millionandisknownasthehometownofthegiantpanda.Itisabout140kilometersawayfromtheprovincialcapitalChengduCityandabout250kmfromWenchuanCounty.