This event is southwest of a cluster of seismicity following an M6.6 earthquake on 20 April 2013 that resulted in 196 fatalities. Most of this seismicity is related to aftershocks of previous destructive earthquakes in the western margin of the Sichuan Basin. In the past 20 years, 25 other earthquakes M5.0+ have occurred within 200 km (120 mi) of the 5 September 2022, event. The convergence of the two plates is accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau. On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is broadly the result of the northward convergence of the Indian Plate against the Eurasian Plate. Meanwhile, the strike-slip motion also results in an east-west extension of the plateau, causing normal faults to break within the thickened crust. Left-lateral strike-slip motion squeezes the crustal blocks of the Tibetan Plateau outwards, forcing it to move eastwards. Large amounts of strike-slip motion are accommodated through major faults and their splays along the plateau, such as the Altyn Tagh Fault, Kunlun Fault, Haiyuan Fault, and Xianshuihe fault systems. Instead of thrust faulting to its south, the Tibetan Plateau accommodates deformation through strike-slip escape tectonics. As Himalayan underthrusting continues, the crust of the Eurasian Plate is deformed and uplifted to form the Tibetan Plateau. Sichuan is situated in a complex zone of faulting created by the continued collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The tectonic overview of the Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan
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