The Basic characteristics of active faults in Xigaze，Tibet and the potential risk assessment of town earthquake disasters

China is one of the countries in the world with the most frequent occurrence of continental earthquakes and the greatest impact of earthquake disasters. In particular, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region has a wide spatial distribution of continental earthquakes, shallow epicenter depths, complex genesis types, and serious disaster losses. This makes it a typical area prone to earthquakes. The need for seismic geological survey work is becoming increasingly urgent. Based on regional geological data, high-precision satellite remote sensing images and DEM elevation data, this paper interprets the active faults in the region of Xigaze. The results show that the active faults in the Xigaze area are mainly concentrated in the rift valleys and their periphery. Their tectonic activity also has spatial differences. The tectonic activity of active faults in the eastern rift is stronger than that in the western rifts. Additionally, the tectonic activity of active faults in each rift also shows a clear segmentation feature. At the same time, this paper comprehensively considers the characteristics of active faults, topography and geomorphology and stratigraphic lithology in the Xigaze area. It also preliminarily evaluates the potential risk of earthquake disasters in 204 towns under its jurisdiction. The results show that there are 57 towns with "extremely high risk", "high risk" and "high-medium risk" of earthquake disasters, accounting for about 28% of the total number of towns in the region.