A magnitude 7 earthquake hit Jiuzhaigou County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province at 9:19 pm on 8 August 2017, local time.
Experts from the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) began to investigate the earthquake damage inside Jiuzhaigou National Park on 10 August. The results were released on 13 August as follows:
As things stand, four villages inside the park are safe now. Roads from Mirror Sea to Panda Lake, as well as some parts of wooden walkways, were seriously destroyed.
After a few days of sedimentation, the turbid lakes will return to limpidity again.
After the photos of damaged scenic spots were released, many people sighed out and commented that nature had created Jiuzhaigou and then destroyed it brutally as well.
Some rumors spread out saying that many lakes were totally ruined, but after few days of sedimentation, these turbid lakes will return to its limpidity again, said Chen Xiaoqing, the expert of CAS who has been taking part in restoration works after natural disasters in Jiuzhaigou since 2003.
He also said that most scenic spots are well preserved aside from Sparking Lake and Nuorilang Waterfall that were severely damaged. However, initial investigation says these damaged scenic spots can be restored.
The disaster is still continuing, so the repair work will be very challenging. It requires cooperation from specialists and experts in various fields to restore the damaged area back to its original looks.