The earthquake disaster in China about 500 years ago resulted in 100,000 deaths in just one day.
On the morning of January 23, 1556, a powerful earthquake shook the province of Shaanxi, which at the time was considered “the cradle of Chinese civilization.” The earthquake lasted only a few seconds but is estimated to have directly killed 100,000 people, leading to landslides, sinkholes, fires, migration, and famine, claiming a total of about 830,000 lives.
This number is not as high as the total death toll from major events such as World War I and World War II, or during pandemics, famines, and floods. However, considering the extent of the loss in just one day, the Shaanxi earthquake—also known as the Jiajing earthquake because it occurred during the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty—is regarded as the deadliest in history.
The 1556 earthquake in Shaanxi caused approximately 830,000 deaths. (Image: History Collection).
Experts estimate that the Shaanxi earthquake had a magnitude of about 8 to 8.3. Although it was not the strongest earthquake in history, this disaster was classified as XI (Extreme) on the Modified Mercalli Scale, used to measure the intensity of shaking during an earthquake.
Many stronger earthquakes occurred before and after this event. However, due to the geological conditions and urban design of the area in 1556, the disaster caused unusually extensive damage to the neighboring cities of Huaxian, Weinan, and Huayin.
Considering that the global population in 1556 was less than 500 million, the death toll from the disaster in Shaanxi was almost certainly the largest loss of life in a single day. This event may also hold the record for the highest number of fatalities, although it is difficult to definitively conclude which day recorded the most deaths.
With over 8 billion people currently living on Earth, an average of about 170,000 people die each day. The deadliest day in wartime occurred on the night of March 9 and the early morning of March 10, 1945, when the American bombing campaign known as Operation Meetinghouse killed 100,000 people in Tokyo. Meanwhile, the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that year claimed the lives of 66,000 and 39,000 people, respectively.
The 1931 Yellow River floods are among the largest natural disasters in history. The total number of deaths remains a contentious topic, with some estimates suggesting that over 2 million people in central and eastern China perished during the four-month period.
The Local Chronicles, existing since 1177 BC, describe the devastation of the earthquake in detail, even asserting that the mountains and rivers changed position. “In some places, the ground suddenly rose to form new hills, or unexpectedly sank to become valleys. In other areas, a stream suddenly burst forth, or the earth cracked open, revealing new waterways. Tents, official residences, temples, and city walls collapsed suddenly,” the chronicles state.
Cracks opened in the ground that were over 18 meters deep. In Huaxian, every building collapsed, and about 60% of the population near the epicenter perished.
Loess landscape in Shaanxi Province, China. (Image: Wikimedia).
The epicenter was located in the Weihe River valley, which has unique geology due to its passage through the Loess Plateau in northern-central China. The plateau lies southeast of the Gobi Desert and is formed from loess—a type of sediment similar to silt created by the accumulation of dust blown from the desert.
Today, it is known that the plateau frequently experiences deadly landslides. However, at that time, many houses were built directly into the soft loess cliffs, creating caves known as yaodong. When the earthquake struck in the early morning, many of these man-made caves collapsed, burying those inside and causing landslides throughout the plateau. Furthermore, many structures in cities at that time were made of heavy stone, which caused significant damage when they collapsed.
There are three major fault lines running through the area: the North Huashan Fault, the Piedmont Fault, and the Weihe Fault. According to a geological analysis in 1998 by a research team from Peking University regarding the 1556 earthquake, the North Huashan Fault played a crucial role in the Shaanxi event, as its scale and movement were the largest.
The Shaanxi earthquake prompted experts to explore the causes and ways to mitigate earthquake damage: stone structures were replaced with softer materials that are better at resisting earthquakes, such as bamboo and wood.
