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.
青海省位于青藏高原的东北部，由欧亚板块与印度板块碰撞形成……。
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 (玉树-甘孜-鲜水河断裂带), 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,[此为地域名] 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.
这次地震发生在距昆仑断裂带以南约300公里（186英里）的玉树地区。(Joozone Note:在这里yushu也可以拼做：Yunshu)。玉树地区是“玉树-甘孜-鲜水河断裂带”的一部分，它是西藏东部最活跃的断裂带之一。历史上，大量的超过七级的地震都发生在鲜水河断裂带，比如，1923年3月24日，在炉霍地区发生的7.25级地震，和1973年2月6日在炉霍地区发生的MS 7.6级地震。翻译由作文地带提供。
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.
据史料记载，除玉树和石棉之外，几乎所有的发生在鲜水河断裂带的地震都非常的强烈。然而，在石棉县发生的一次强烈地震被发现，此次地震发生在约16万或17万年前。因此，鲜水河断裂带的石棉县地带已经被锁定为在未来可能会产生强震。
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，在中国西藏高原的玉树县，发生了6.9级的地震。在人口稀少的村庄和比较大的城镇桂谷(此处有待参考)，数以千计的建筑物倒塌，许多大型建筑都受到了严重破坏或毁坏。该地区在一个海拔3700米（12,000英尺）以及道路稀少以致我国政府对外救援队伍难以很及时的对震区展开救援工作。
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.
据中国官方媒体报道，目前死亡人数已上升至1,144。救援人员正在继续搜寻幸存者，同时为无家可归的居民支起了他们过夜的帐篷，保证了他们在冰冻的夜晚有所住。