Abstract:An M5.6 earthquake struck Nima, in Tibet, on July 24, 2009.According to the displacement of the earthquake surface rupture and destruction of buildings, the earthquake macroscopical epicenter lay between Juncang Town in Nima County and Cishi Town in Cuoqin County.The intensity of seismic area was VII.This article studies the basic parameters of earthquake sequence features, source parameters, seismogenic structure, and so on, making use of related parameters to discuss the focal mechanism solutions identified as consistent with the event by Harvard University.The results are confirmed by field investigation.An inspection of the scene of the earthquake recorded the seismic characteristics of every type of building in the region, and the reasons for damage are summarized, and suggestions made for earthquake disaster prevention and mitigation.This article establishes that the earthquake occurred within the Kailash-Lhasa block, displaying NNW trending mainly under tensile stress generated by a sinistral strike slip with normal faulting. In addition, this article analyzes minor earthquake activity and the imaging features of regional seismicity in Nima before the MS5.6 earthquake, and compares these with regional seismicity during the MS5.0 earthquake here in 2009.One to two years before the MS5.6 earthquake, Nima experienced strong earthquake bursting, and moderate earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and 4.0 were assigned a state of "Significantly Enhanced" across the area.Twelve months before the MS5.6 earthquake, a seismogenic gap of earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and 4.0 occurred in the source area, with abnormal images of almost adjoining distribution.Before the MS5.6 earthquake, the strong seismic status and abnormal images of small earthquakes in Tibet were the same as associated with the M4.9 earthquake in 2009.The outcomes of this paper are a scientific basis with which to predict earthquakes in future.