Reviewed by USGSChina108y ago
M6.5 earthquake 128 km NNW of Kangding, China
Thursday, May 29, 1919, 11:00:07 UTC · 31.121°N, 101.592°E
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 128 km NNW of Kangding, China on Thursday, May 29, 1919, 11:00:07 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.8 on February 9, 1908.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 15 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
91 kilotons of TNT
That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 191 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
445 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Yangtze plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
15 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 2 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 13 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 7,182 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1816M6.5
Sichuan Province
8 Dec 1816 · 90 km away · intensity VIII
2,854 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1870M7.3
Sichuan Province: Batang
11 Apr 1870 · 278 km away · intensity X
2,300 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1811M6.5
Sichuan Province: E. Of Ganze
27 Sep 1811 · 138 km away · intensity VIII
480 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1786M7.5
Sichuan Province: S Of Kangding
1 Jun 1786 · 155 km away · intensity IX
435 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1904M6.0
Sichuan Province
30 Aug 1904 · 66 km away · intensity VIII
400 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1893M6.8
Sichuan Province
29 Aug 1893 · 70 km away · intensity IX
288 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.