Official sources indicate that after the Panzhihua earthquake, there is a possibility of aftershocks ranging from magnitude 5 to 6.
According to a report by the China News Service in Beijing on September 3 (by reporter Zhang Ximin), Liu Jie, director of the Forecast Department of the China Earthquake Networks Center, stated at a press conference today that the Panzhihua-Huili 6.1 magnitude earthquake was not an aftershock of the Wenchuan earthquake, and there remains a possibility for aftershocks in the range of 5 to 6 magnitudes.
Liu Jie pointed out that the Panzhihua-Huili earthquake occurred along the Xige Da-Yuanmou fault line, whereas the Wenchuan earthquake was located along the Longmenshan fault line. The epicenters of these two earthquakes are 550 kilometers apart, so this earthquake is not an aftershock of the Wenchuan earthquake but rather a new seismic event occurring in a new area.
He explained that the Wenchuan earthquake had a magnitude of 8, releasing an immense amount of energy within just over a minute, which inevitably caused an imbalance in the entire tectonic system, known as the north-south seismic belt. This imbalance led to other linked fault lines readjusting themselves. Therefore, the Panzhihua-Huili earthquake is an independent seismic phenomenon.