China is a land of topographic contrasts hosting great mountain ranges, vast deserts and major rivers. The Tibetan plateau is the largest massif on Earth – the so called third pole – with an average height of 4,500 m above sea level (Molnar, 1989). Its presence is the result of a great convergence of land masses fifty million years ago, as India pushed northwards into Eurasia. Today the results of this action dominate the nature of the landscape across China, while the forces resisting India’s northward push build stress and strain that result in devastating earthquakes. It is this threat, and the increased exposure to it, that must urgently be addressed.