M6.5 earthquake 115 km NE of Lijiang, China

Saturday, November 6, 1976, 18:04:08 UTC · 27.605°N, 101.052°E

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 115 km NE of Lijiang, China on Saturday, November 6, 1976, 18:04:08 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.8 on May 10, 1974.

Magnitude: 6.5; Strong · ms
Depth: 33 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: VI; 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

85 kilotons of TNT

That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 178 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

354 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Indian and Eurasian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

33 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 6 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.1 on November 7, 1976. 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.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 89 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 49 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 51,846 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1850M7.5
Sichuan: Xichang
12 Sep 1850 · 125 km away · intensity X
20,650 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1974M7.1
Yunnan And Sichuan Provinces, Chao-T'Ung
10 May 1974 · 299 km away
20,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1925M6.9
Yunnan Province: Talifu
16 Mar 1925 · 216 km away
5,800 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1917M6.8
Yunnan Province
30 Jul 1917 · 293 km away · intensity IX
1,800 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1751M6.8
Yunnan Province
25 May 1751 · 168 km away · intensity IX
900 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1948M7.3
Sichuan Province
25 May 1948 · 218 km away · intensity X
800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers