Qinghai lies in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, which formed due to the ongoing collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The main deformation in this area is crustal shortening, but there is also a component of left lateral strike-slip faulting on major west–east trending structures such as the Kunlun and Altyn Tagh fault systems that accommodate southeastward translation of the Tibetan area.
青海省位於青藏高原的東北部，由歐亞板塊與印度板塊碰撞形成……。
The earthquake occurred on the Yunshu fault,about 300 kilometres (186 mi) south of the Kunlun fault. The Yunshu fault forms part of the Yushu-Garzê-Xianshuihe fault zone (玉樹-甘孜-鮮水河斷裂帶), one of the most active fault zones in eastern Tibet.In history, many earthquakes with magnitude greater than 7 have occurred in the Xianshuihe fault zone,[此為地域名] for example, the magnitude 7.25 earthquake in the Luhuo area on March 24, 1923, and the Ms 7.6 earthquake on Febuary 6, 1973 in Luhuo.
這次地震發生在距崑崙斷裂帶以南約300公里（186英里）的玉樹地區。(Joozone Note:在這裡yushu也可以拼做：Yunshu)。玉樹地區是“玉樹-甘孜-鮮水河斷裂帶”的一部分，它是西藏東部最活躍的斷裂帶之一。歷史上，大量的超過七級的地震都發生在鮮水河斷裂帶，比如，1923年3月24日，在爐霍地區發生的7.25級地震，和1973年2月6日在爐霍地區發生的MS 7.6級地震。翻譯由作文地帶提供。
Almost all sections of the Xianshuihe fault zone have produced strong earthquakes in records, except the sections of Yushu and Shimian (石棉). However, a trace of a strong earthquake occurred about 16 000 or 17 000 years ago has been found in Shimian. Hence, the Shimian section of the Xianshuihe fault zone is speculated to be currently locked and have the possibility of producing strong earthquake in the future.
據史料記載，除玉樹和石棉之外，幾乎所有的發生在鮮水河斷裂帶的地震都非常的強烈。然而，在石棉縣發生的一次強烈地震被發現，此次地震發生在約16萬或17萬年前。因此，鮮水河斷裂帶的石棉縣地帶已經被鎖定為在未來可能會產生強震。
On April 14th, residents of China's remote Yushu County, located on the Tibetan plateau, were awoken by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. In the sparsely populated villages and the larger town of Gye gu, thousands of wood-earth buildings collapsed and many larger structured heavily damaged or destroyed. The region is difficult to reach for the response teams of the Chinese government outside aid groups - lying at an elevation of 3,700m (12,000 ft) and connected by few roads, most of which were damaged in the quake.
在2010年4月14日，在中國西藏高原的玉樹縣，發生了6.9級的地震。在人口稀少的村莊和比較大的城鎮桂谷(此處有待參考)，數以千計的建築物倒塌，許多大型建築都受到了嚴重破壞或毀壞。該地區在一個海拔3700米（12,000英尺）以及道路稀少以致我國政府對外救援隊伍難以很及時的對震區展開救援工作。
Chinese state media now says the death toll has risen to 1,144. Rescuers continue to search for survivors as homeless residents work to recover what they can and set up shelter from the freezing overnight temperatures.
據中國官方媒體報導，目前死亡人數已上升至1,144。救援人員正在繼續搜尋倖存者，同時為無家可歸的居民支起了他們過夜的帳篷，保證了他們在冰凍的夜晚有所住。