Reviewed by USGSChina122y ago
M6.6 earthquake 78 km ESE of Xinyuan, China
Friday, March 2, 1906, 06:14:55 UTC · 43.219°N, 84.179°E
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck 78 km ESE of Xinyuan, China on Friday, March 2, 1906, 06:14:55 UTC, at a depth of 20.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.6
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 20 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
138 kilotons of TNT
That is about 9 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 288 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
1,340 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Indian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
20 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 5 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 379 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1906M8.3
Xinjiang Province
22 Dec 1906 · 73 km away · intensity IX
280 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1893M6.8
Xinjiang
17 Dec 1893 · 203 km away · intensity IX
90 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1863M5.5
Xinjiang
25 Sep 1863 · 283 km away · intensity VII
9 deaths
- 1786M6.0
Xinjiang
18 Jun 1786 · 286 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
- 1812M8.0
Xinjiang Province
8 Mar 1812 · 109 km away
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.