Henan building quake observatory commemorating seismograph inventor

ZHENGZHOU - Henan province in Central China is preparing to open an earthquake monitoring station near the site of an ancient observatory named after Zhang Heng, the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) scientist who invented a seismograph.

Construction of the Zhang Heng Seismostation started in July 2015 at Zhugedang village, Yibin district of Luoyang city, where an observatory was built in the year 56 AD. The new station will start operating on a trial basis in June this year, according to the city's seismological bureau.

Advanced earthquake monitoring equipment has been installed in a well 300 meters deep and is being tested, Zhang Peihua, chief engineer with the bureau, said on Wednesday.

Zhang said the station will serve as a data exchange, collection and processing center for earthquake monitoring around Luoyang, as well as an education base for earthquake response and disaster mitigation.

Zhang Heng created the world's first shock wave seismograph in 132 AD, 1,700 years before such a device was invented in Europe.