Is Guangzhou a city that is likely to experience earthquakes?

Question

I will be going to Guangzhou this summer and the recent earthquake in China has kind of frightened me... I was wondering if Guangzhou is actually a city that is likely to be hit by earthquakes or no?

Answer 1

Guangzhou is about 817 miles (1,314 km) from the most recent earthquake near Chengdu. The closest earthquake to Guangzhou shown on Google Earth is about 93 miles away, and it was a 5.1 magnitude in 1989. A search of the USGS database turned up only 1 earthquake within 100 km of Guangzhou, a 4.2 M, 33 km away to the NW.

In short, Guangzhou is not particularly earthquake prone. Its location as a port city in the Pearl River delta may render it slightly vulnerable to tsunamis, but the major dangers will likely be flooding and typhoon.