M6.1 earthquake 272 km NE of Burang, China

Thursday, October 8, 1953, 19:11:04 UTC · 32.258°N, 82.892°E

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck 272 km NE of Burang, China on Thursday, October 8, 1953, 19:11:04 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.7 on February 10, 1947.

Magnitude: 6.1; Strong · mw
Depth: 10 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: VII; Very strong (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

21 kilotons of TNT

That is about the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 43 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

421 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

10 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 lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.5 on October 11, 1953. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

6.5253 km NE of Burang, China74y ago · 19 km SW of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 16 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

Nearby trackers