This is a List of earthquakes in China, part of the series of lists of disasters in China. Earthquakes in the loess plateau where residents lived in yaodong caves tended to have big casualties, including the 1303 Hongdong and 1920 Haiyuan earthquakes. The most recent earthquake with a death toll of more than a thousand was the 2010 Yushu earthquake, which killed 2,968.
The collision of India with the rest of Asia has led to seismic activity throughout Western China, particularly in Tibet and the Yunnan, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces. However, these regions in comparison with Eastern China have a low population density. These areas also in general have poorer transport and building codes. Throughout China, poor building codes increases the damage and loss of life from earthquakes. The northern regions of Eastern China are not as seismically active as the western areas of the country, but earthquakes are still possible in this area.
Earthquake prediction was popular between 1966 and 1976, which overlapped with the Cultural Revolution. This reached its height with the successful prediction of the 1975 Haicheng earthquake. This earthquake had a prominent series of foreshocks and authorities who were eager to issue a warning. However very few earthquakes have both these criteria. The unpredictable and devastating 1976 Tangshan earthquake led to a reduction in the popularity of earthquake prediction in China.
The earthquake triggered a landslide that formed an artificial mud dam which blocked the Dadu River. Ten days later, this dam was breached resulting in a catastrophic mudslide flooding event.
Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.
↑National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. "Significant Earthquake Information". doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
↑ 5.05.1China Earthquake Administration, ed. (2008). 地震知识百问百答 [100 Q&As on Earthquakes]. 地震出版社. Archived from the original on 9 May 2009. 实则直接死于地震的只有十数万人,其余70余万人均死于瘟疫和饥荒 [Actually, direct deaths from earthquake amount to 100,000-odd, the remaining 700,000-odd died from plagues and famine]
↑Zhou, C., Diao, G., Geng, J. et al. Fault plane parameters of Tancheng M8½ earthquake on the basis of present-day seismological data. Earthq Sci 23, 567–576 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11589-010-0756-0
↑Schuster, R.L. and G. F. Wieczorek, "Landslide triggers and types" in Landslides: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Landslides 2002 A.A. Balkema Publishers. p.66 [1]
↑Wyss, M.; Wu, Z. L. (2014). "How Many Lives Were Saved by the Evacuation Before the M7.3 Haicheng Earthquake of 1975?". Seismological Research Letters. 85 (85): 126–129. Bibcode:2014SeiRL..85..126W. doi:10.1785/0220130089.
↑王瓒玮 (28 July 2016). "唐山大地震40年:从死亡人数到天灾还是人祸仍是一地鸡毛". Jiemian. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2019. 若按唐山地区实际震亡人口统计,遇难者大致应有260000人左右;但若考虑北京、天津等其他受灾地区情况,及伤员陆续死亡、失踪者等不明信息条件,唐山大地震中死亡者数字或如民间所言,至少达到300000