Facts and Details

EARTHQUAKES IN CHINA

Damage from the
Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 China usually gets hit by a dozen or more earthquakes measuring 5 or higher on the Richter scale every year. Yunnan Province and Xinjiang get struck by a lot of earthquakes. Gansu, Shaanxi and Qinghai Provinces also get hit fairly often. Sichuan got hammered by a really big one in 2008. The destructive Tangshan Earhquake of 1976 wasn't very far from Beijing.

An earthquake is a shaking of the ground. It occurs when large masses of rock suddenly change position. Earthquakes and tremors (small earthquakes) are occurring somewhere around the globe all the time. Some cause a little shaking and people barely know what's going on. Other cause catastrophic damage.

Earthquakes have killed more than 2 million people worldwide since 1900. Hundreds of thousands have died in single events. No other natural events have caused as much destruction in human history and no other events occur with such suddenness and capriciousness. They only thing that ranks with them are catastrophic volcanic eruptions and tsunamia. The former occur with much less frequency and are easier to predict than earthquakes. The latter are generally caused by earthquakes. If anything the destructive power of earthquakes increases as time goes by as the number of people living in earthquake-prone areas increase even as technology to help them improves.

Earthquakes usually occur on faults--massive cracks or fractures that usually are located around places that tectonic plates meet. The hypocenter or focus is the center of the energy of an earthquake, or where the earthquake originates below the surface of the earth. The epicenter is point on the earth's surface directly above the hypocenter.

Powerful Chinese Earthquakes

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the deadliest earthquake ever killed 830,000 people in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan Provinces on February 2, 1556. Six of the 13 deadliest earthquakes ever occurred in China.

Worst Recorded Earthquakes (number of dead): 1) Hua County in Shaanxi, central China, Jan. 24, 1556 (830,000); 2) Calcutta, India, Oct. 11, 1737 (300,000); 3) Tangshan, China, July 28, 1976 (242,000); 4) December 26, 2004, Sumatra, Thailand and Sri Lanka (225,000); 5) Antioch, Syria, May 20, 526 (250,000); 6) Yokohama, Japan, Sept. 1, 1923 (200,000); 7) Nan-Shan, China, May 22, 1927 (200,000); 8) Hokkaido, Japan, Dec. 30, 1730; 9) Chihli, China, Sept. 27, 1290 (100,000); 10) Haiyuan in Gansu, China, Dec. 16, 1920 (200,000); 11) Messina, Italy, Dec. 28, 1908 (83,000); 12) Shemaka, Caucasia, Nov. 1667 (80,000); 13) Gansu, China, Dec. 26, 1932 (70,000);

Powerful Chinese Earthquakes in the 20th Century

Most deadly earthquakes since 1900 (magnitude on the Richter scale): 1) Tangshan China in 1976, 255,000 dead (7.5); 2) Sumatra in 2004, 225,000 dead (9.3); 3) Nan-shan in Qinghai China in 1927, 200,000 dead (8.3); 4) Haiyuan in Gansu, China in 1920, 200,000 dead (8.6); 5) Japan in 1923, 143,000dead (7.9).

Most powerful earthquakes since 1900 (magnitude on the Richter scale): 1) Chile on May 22, 1960 (9.5); 2) off Sumatra, Indonesia on December 26, 2004 (9.3); 3) Prince William Sound in Alaska on March 28, 1964 (9.2); 4) Andreanof Islands, Alaska on March 9, 1957 (9.1); 5) Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia on November 4, 1952 (9.0); 6) off the coast of Ecuador on January 31, 1906 (8.8); 7) Rat Islands, Alaska on February 4 1965 (8.7); 7) off Nias Island, Indonesia on March 28, 2005 (8.7); 9) Tibet on August 15, 1950 (8.6); 10) Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia on February 3, 1923 (8.5); 10) Banda Sea, Indonesia on February 1, 1918 (8.5); 10) off Etorofu Island, northern territories, Japan (8.5.) [Source: U.S. Geological Survey]

The 1920 earthquake in Gansu measured 8.6 on the Richter scale and killed 200,000. According to the Guinness Book of Records it produced the deadliest landslide ever, killing 180,000 people in Gansu Province on December 16, 1920. An earthquake in China in 1970 that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale killed 10,000.

Earthquake Predictions in China

The Chinese started recording earthquakes in 1831 B.C. In Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), the direction of the epicenter of earthquakes was determined by a six-foot-wide bronze caldron circled with eight frogs at the bottom and eight dragons at the top. When an earthquake struck a ball dropped from a dragon and fell into the mouth of one of the frogs, showing the direction from which the quake arrived. A device activated by a pendulum triggered the ball to fall. The caldron was kept at the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendars.

The Chinese were using seismographs to measure earthquakes around A.D. 1000. The Chinese also invented methods of construction that allowed building to sway and not collapse in an earthquake.

An earthquake in Haicheng (north of Liaotung) at 7:36pm on February 4, 1975 was predicted by Chinese scientists by following a pattern of seismic activity that preceded it. Nine out of ten of the cities buildings were destroyed but nearly all of the city's 90,000 residents survived because they had been evacuated. No earthquake anywhere has been predicted since then.

Today China has 10,000 earthquake scientists and 100,000 amateur observers.

Animals and Earthquake Predictions in China

The Chinese have presented evidence that cows and other animals change their behavior before earthquakes, and used this as a means of predicting earthquakes.

The earthquake bureau in Nanning in Guangxi Province in southern China uses snakes to predict earthquakes. The snakes, which are said to display unusual behavior before earthquakes, are monitored around the clock at local snakes farms with video cameras. The bureau director said, “When an earthquake is about to occur, snakes will move of their nests, even in the cold of winter.” He said the snakes can sense an earthquake three to five days before they occur at a distance of up to 120 kilometers. “If the earthquake is a big one the snakes will even smash into walls while trying to escape,” he said.

Employees at the Guangzhou Zoo are monitoring the behavior of peacocks, frogs, snakes, turtles, deer and squirrels to see what kind of behavior they exhibit before earthquakes. An official there said, “We’ve found animals behave oddly before an earthquake. Hibernating animals, for example, will wake up and flee from their caves while the aquatic ones will leap from the water’s surface.”

Tangshan Earthquake

Tangshan earthquake damage The worst earthquake in the last 250 years and the third worst one of all time occurred in Tangshan, a city on the South China Sea about 75 miles east of Beijing. It is estimated that 270,000 people were killed and 160,000 were injured.

The Tangshan earthquake struck at 3:42am on July 26, 1976 and measured 7.8 on Richter scale. Casualty figures vary. One report listed 655,237 dead and 779,000 injured. A 1979 report by the Chinese Seismological Society listed 242,000 dead and 164,000 injured.

"For 20 seconds," wrote Patrick Tyler in the New York Times, " the landscape heaved repeatedly, pummeling the city of just over one million with earth-splitting jolts and causing all but a handful of buildings to collapse on sleeping residents. All communications were cut off. People crawled from the rubble dazed and in darkness. A light drizzle was falling. Nearly one-forth of Tangshan's resident's were dead."

Water supplies were cut off, factories were destroyed, people dug for buried neighbors until they dropped from exhaustion and went days without food and water. More than 7,000 entire families were wiped out. Recovery from Tangshan earthquake in 1976 was delayed due to political struggles that took place after the death of Mao. There were reports that the earthquake was preceded by strange animal behavior and other signals.

Survivor Stories from Tangshan

Survivors recall watching the entire city collapse around them, being trapped for days beneath rubble and abandoning loved ones to search for survivors. "It was very silent for a few seconds," one survivor told the New York Times, "and then you began to hear the shouts and cries." Later another survivor said, "No one cried. It was so big and so many people died that the streets were all piled up with copses. People didn't even think to cry."

Officials in Beijing didn't realized the city had been completely leveled until 12 hours after it happened. They were alerted to the scale of the disaster by a Tangshan coal miner, Li Yulin, who drove a red ambulance for six hours along dirt roads to reach Beijing. He showed up with mud all over his face and his clothes in tatters at the gates of Zhongnanhai, the high-walled compound where China's leaders live, to deliver his report.

"It took days to mobilize the army and start relief operations," Tyler wrote. "The Tangshan residents dug with their hands, stacking tens of thousands of bodies along the alleyways and roads so chocked by debris that the trucks could not always get through to remove the dead. Airplanes flew over the city spewing disinfectant to stop the spread of disease. China's leaders forbade foreigners from traveling to the area and rejected offers of aid from international relief agencies...With no water and only bags of biscuits dropped from airplanes in the first days, the people of this city had little time to mourn the dead, whose bodies were dumped in mass graves."

"There were a lot of heroic stories," one man told Reuter. "For the following few days there was no water to drink, but still people were able to get restaurant produce. Tangshan otherwise recovered miraculously quick. Some of city’s famous pottery plants started up after 20 days and all of them were producing by the end of the year.

Coverage and Legacy of the Tangshan Earthquake

W.G. Huang wrote in the Chicago Tribune, “Through the media we were told the Chinese people took pride in being self-reliant and were capable of handling our own disaster. Then...our teacher told us the government was worried the foreigners would come in and infiltrate China under the pretense of helping out. Once a week we spent an afternoon in school reading in the government newspaper about how people overcame adversity in the disaster areas inspired by a Chairman Mao quotation: 'Humans can conquer nature.'"

“Still unofficial reports slipped through. One time I heard from a friend whose mother was a nurse and had been summoned to Tangshan that tens of thousands of people had been killed. When I told my father, he immediately warned me not to share re information with others. He was worried I could get myself into trouble for spreading rumors...The result of all this secrecy and effort to control rumors was, of course, that people relied heavily on rumors, even to make critical decisions.”

Tangshan was able to recover with generous support form the government and materials form the area's abundant natural resources. Today, Tangshan is a prosperous industrial city of 1.55 million people (six times as many people as after the 1976 earthquake). "Basically a whole new city was planned on top of the ruins," a city official told New York Times.

During the 20th anniversary of the earthquake banners and slogans at construction sites read "Develop the Spirit of Resisting the Earthquake to Build Times Plaza" and "Diligently Launch the Month of Famous Gods Sales to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Resisting the Earthquake." At one timer there were plans to build a $72 million Tangshan earthquake theme park.

Earthquakes in Yunnan

More than 70 earthquakes measuring over five on the Richter scale have occurred near Tengchong, Yunnan Province in the Gaoligong Mountain Range. There are also 20 volcanos and numerous hot springs in the area.

In April 1985 an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck Yunnan province, killing 22.

In November 1988 an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale devastated a remote area of Yunnan province, killing at least 730 and destroying about 400,000 homes.

In October 1995 an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck Yunnan province, killing at least 50, injuring 6,000 and leaving 170,000 People homeless.

In February, 1996 an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Lijiang in the Yunnan province, killing at least 304, injuring 16,000 and destroying 330,000 homes. It was the worst earthquake in China in eight years. Lijiang has had 22 major earthquakes since 1474.

An earthquake in July 2003 in a mountainous part of Yunnan, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, killed 15 and injured 400 and left thousands homeless. An earthquake in October 2003 in Yunnan, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, killed three people and damaged around 14,000 homes. In August 2004, an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck in the area around Ludian in northern Yunnan province, killing four, injuring 600 and leaving more than 125,000 homeless.

In January 2006, a magnitude 5 earthquake damaged 14,000 homes but only injured one person in impoverished Mjiang county in Yunnan Province. In July 2006, a moderate 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck Yunnan Province, killing 22 people and injuring 100 others and damaging 38,000 buildings in 13 townships in Yanjin county. In August 2006, an earthquake and aftershock in Yunnan Province killed at least two people and damaged thousands of houses in Yanjin and Daguan counties.

In June 2007, a strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale followed by 55 aftershocks killed three people, injured 290, destroyed or damaged 100,000 homes and damaged crops in the tea-making city of Pu’er in southwest Yunnan Province. One of the dead was a four-year-old girl crushed when the mud-wall house she lived in collapsed.

In December 2008, an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale struck an area around Ruili in Yunnan Province near the Myanmar border, injuring 19 people. Two other tremors measuring above four also hit the area.

In August 2008, an earthquake measuring 5.9 the Richter scale struck an area near the border of Myanmar, killing three, injuring about 100 and damaging hundreds of homes. Thousands slept outside their homes out of fear of aftershocks. A day earlier a destructive earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck the same area.

In July 2009, an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale struck a mountainous area about 100 kilometers northeast of the tourist town of Dali in Yunnan Province, killing one person, injuring 328 and causing 18,000 homes to collapse and another 75,000 to be damaged. More than 400,000 people were forced to evacuate. One villager told AFP, : I was harvesting tobacco leaves...when the quake hit, I felt dizzy and saw villagers falling over, many houses collapsed. The person who died was a 50-year-old who died from blood loss after being buried under debris from her house.

Earthquakes in Xinjiang in the 1990s

In August 1985, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale killed 67 people and injured more than 100 in Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

In 1995, a 6.9 earthquake killed at least 24 in northwestern Xinjiang.

Five earthquakes measuring more than five on the Richter scale hit Artush in the Kashgar region between March 1996 and 1998.

A huge earthquake, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, hit the border region between Xinjiang and Qinghai but struck such a remote area no one was killed or injured. The quake occurred in Kunlun mountains at an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 meters. The nearest population center, Golmud, was 350 kilometers away.

In 1997, 11 earthquakes struck Xinjiang. One measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale in January of that year struck the Jiashi area and killed 50 people and injured more than 40. One in April measuing 6.6 killed nine and injured 60. An earthquake in March 1996, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale struck 120 kilometers north Jiashi and killed 26 people and injured 128.

Earthquakes in Xinjiang in the 2000s

In February 2003, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit the area around the town of Jiashi near Kashgar and the Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan border. At least 268 people were killed and over 4,000 were injured and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Another earthquake in Xinjiang, near Kazakhstan, the same year, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, killed 10 people and destroyed 700 homes.

Chinese acted to quickly to bring help and relief to the region. Even so many of the Uighurs that lived in the region blamed the Han Chinese. One Uighar man told Reuters, “Han people kept using explosives to take oil from around here. This earthquake came because they took the oil”

In February 2004, there was an earthquake that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale in the Uighur region of Xinjiang. Many buildings were damaged in Wushi county.

In July 2007, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake destroyed about 4,600 homes and damaged 7,800 others in northwest Xinjiang . There were no human fatalities or serious injuries. Around 400 livestock animals died, mostly in 40 livestock sheds that collapsed.

Other Earthquakes in China in the 1980s and 90s

In October 1989, a series of earthquakes in Shanxi and Hebei Provinces killed 126 people and left 60,000 homeless.

In April 1990, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hit northwestern Qinghai Province, killing 126 people.

An earthquake in May 1996, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck Innger Mongolia, killed 15 people and injured more than 200. The quake was followed by more than 400 aftershocks.

An earthquake in January 1998 in the northern province of Hebei, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, killed 47 people and injured more than 2,000. Many of the dead were in mud and brick homes in two counties.

Other Earthquakes in China in the Early 2000s

An earthquake in June 2002 struck the northeast province of Jilin, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, but caused relatively little damage and produced no casualties. The region has a history of deep source earthquakes that cause little damage.

In March 2003, there was an earthquake that measured 5.9 on the Richter scale in Inner Mongolia. Many homes were damaged but no one was hurt.

Earthquakes in October 2003 in a desert area in Gansu, measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the Richter scale, killed 9, injured 43, mainly in collapsed buildings, and left cracks in dams that raised worried about flooding.

Other Earthquakes in China in the Mid 2000s

In January 2004, three people were killed and six were missing after a tsunami suddenly emerged off the coast of Jiangsu Province and swept away two two tractors carrying peasants, who were on the shore collecting seaweed.

In 2005, there were 13 earthquakes measuring 5 or higher. In November 2005, an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale struck Ruichnag city in central Jiangxi Province and parts of Hubei Province, killing at least 16 people, injuring 377, destroying 150,000 homes and forcing a half million people to sleep outside out of fear of aftershocks. A man who dashed out his house during the first wave of shaking told AP, “I felt very strong shocks, lasting about six or seven seconds. We fled immediately .” Among those injured were students caught in stampede during an evacuation. It was the most powerful earthquake to strike central China in 60 years.

In October 2006, an area near the Three Gorges Dam experienced a magnitude 4.7 earthquake. Some houses shifted on their foundations. A total of 4,318 houses in 39 villages were slightly damaged, More than 6,000 people were temporarily relocated. No injuries were reported.

In November 2006, a relatively small earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale struck Inner Mongolia, damaging 5,500 houses, including 1,353 that sustained serious damage.

In January 2007, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck neat Lanzhou in Gansu Province, thousands of buildings were damaged but there were few injuries,

Earthquakes in China in 2008 and 2009

In August 2008, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale rocked southwestern Sichuan Province, killing 38 and injuring 650 and destroying 250,000 homes. It was centered 50 kilometers southeast of the city of Panzhihua, where 400 houses were destroyed, Another 1,000 were destroyed in the neighboring farming town of Liangshan. Relief works was hampered by heavy rains and difficult terrain. Some people were killed in an aftershock that measured 5.6 . The main earthquake was about 500 kilometers south of the devastating one that struck Sichuan three months earlier.

A survivor in Liangshan prefecture said, “All the houses in our villages have nearly collapsed, and right now we are risking our lives to bring our belongings out of our homes. In our village there are 60 to 70 people who are seriously injured and staying in the playground of our elementary school, We don’t have enough clothes or canvas to shelter ourselves, so we have o sew plastic bags together.”

In August 2008, an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck an area of Tibet near the Nepal border, damaging hundreds of homes.

In July 2008, three earthquakes—with the strongest measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale—struck a region on the border Shaanxi and Sichuan Provinces, killing one and injuring at least 10.

In December 2008, an earthquake measuring 5.4 the Richter scale struck an area in Sichuan about 150 kilometers from the area devasted by the massive earthquake earlier in the year. Two miners were killed and three others were injured.

Image Sources: Taken from various sources on the Internet

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

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© 2008 Jeffrey Hays