Based on the field investigation and the summary of the published research results of the April
20 2013 Lushan Sichuan China MS7.0 earthquake having occurred along the same fault zone
which accommodated the May 12 2008 Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake this Brief tries to describe
and discuss the special earthquake phenomenology associated with both the local geology and the
changing society. Since the occurrence of this earthquake there have been the scientific
debates on (1) the seismo-tectonics of this earthquake which has no primary seismic fault
discovered on the surface of the ground (2) the relation between this earthquake and the
Wenchuan earthquake (i.e. whether it can be considered as one of the aftershocks) and (3) how
well have been accomplished in the reduction of earthquake disasters 5 years after the
Wenchuan earthquake. This Brief also tries to introduce the studies and practice of Chinese
seismological agencies for the reduction of earthquake disasters. Due to language and cultural
barriers such an introduction makes sense not only for English readers but also for Chinese
readers. For example people (abroad) are always asking why there are so many Chinese
seismologists working on earthquake prediction. In fact the Chinese wording 'earthquake
prediction' has a much wider coverage than that in English. And actually the Chinese approach
to (time-dependent) seismic hazard has no systematic difference from outside world in its
methodology.
