quake in china

the earth is going to shake us right off her back.

A 5.2 is no big deal. I made it through the Coalinga quake. I was on the balcony watering my hanging plants and I noticed that I was missing the pots. Otherwise, life went on as usual. Well OK, we had to arrange therapy for the squirrels.

http://www.iris.edu/about/ENO/iows/6_2002a.htm

Coalinga Quake, 1983
At 4:42 p.m, PDT May 2, 1983, a strong earthquake measuring M6.7 struck an isolated region of the western San Joaquin Valley near Coalinga, California. The main shock occurred near Anticline Ridge about 15 km northeast of Coalinga. It was felt from the Los Angeles area north to Susanville and from the Pacific Coast to western Nevada.
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[nice picture of a house split in two, with a coalinga TV repair shop sign still visible]

OK, Coalinga was supposedly a 6.7, which is some 15 times more destructive than a 5.2 quake. But then California's bulding codes are probably different from China's.

In some of the early stuff I saw last night, 19 people were presumed to have died. Out of 1.2 billion, 19 is less than a drop in the bucket, unless it was your father, mother, brother, sister, friend.

Figuring the distance from the epicenter is also important.

I was going to say that the effects are relative. Depending on the sub-surface material, the types of structures that are built, and even the length of time it goes on.
I would say in the US, it would get your attention, but do little damage due to building codes. There is usually an exception somewhere though, in old neighborhoods that seldom get a quake.
It seems any type of natural disaster in China has a higher rate of deaths, and destruction than most places. Population density and lack of any serious building controls as contributors.

This is a moderate value... if it would have gone to 6 sure there was a damage... God bless them...