According to the analysis on the characteristics of historic earthquakes in Jiangsu Province and South Huanghai Sea region, the historical earthquakes in the studied area are divided into two kinds of comparatively safe class and comparatively dangerous class. Then the statistical result of earthquake class, the characteristics of geo-graphical distribution and geological structures are studied. The study shows: a) In Jiangsu Province and South Huanghai Sea region, the majority of historical strong earthquakes belong to comparatively safe class, only 13.8% belong to comparatively dangerous class; b) Most historical earthquakes belong to comparatively safe class in the land area of Jiangsu, eastern sea area of Yangtze River mouth and northern depression of South Huanghai Sea region. However, along the coast of middle Jiangsu Province and in the sea area of South Huanghai Sea, the distribution of historical earthquake classes is complex and the earthquake series of comparatively dan-gerous class and comparatively safe class are equivalent in number; c) In the studied area, the statistical results of historical earthquake classes and the characteristics of spatial distribution accord very well with the real case of present-day earthquake series. It shows that the seismic activity in the region has the characteristic of succession, and the result from this study can be used as a reference for early postseismic judgment in the earthquake emer-gency work in Jiangsu Province.
