M6.5 earthquake 153 km WSW of Xining, China

Thursday, April 26, 1990, 09:37:15 UTC · 35.986°N, 100.245°E

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 153 km WSW of Xining, China on Thursday, April 26, 1990, 09:37:15 UTC, at a depth of 8.1 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.7 on April 19, 1963.

Magnitude: 6.5; Strong · mw
Depth: 8 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: IX; Violent (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

912 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

8 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 16 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.3 on April 26, 1990. 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 38 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 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 51,164 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1927M7.7
Gansu Province
22 May 1927 · 274 km away · intensity XI
40,912 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1921M6.2
Ningxia
12 Apr 1921 · 113 km away
10,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1990M6.9
Qinghai Province: Ganghe-Xinghai
26 Apr 1990 · 0 km away
126 deaths$58 million damage
1819M5.8
Qinghai Province
24 Feb 1819 · 185 km away · intensity VII
126 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1936M6.8
Gansu Province
7 Feb 1936 · 292 km away · intensity IX
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1893M5.5
Qinghai Province
1 Jun 1893 · 155 km away · intensity VII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers