January 23, 2005

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  449 YEARS AGO TODAY

  
  

  

  
  

  Jan 23 1556

  
  

  The Shaanxi earthquake occurred on the morning of 14 February 1556 in China. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected.

  
  

   It is the deadliest earthquake on record, though the numbers are very sketchy. According to Chinese historical sources, the earthquake killed 830 thousand people. A 500-mile area was destroyed and in some counties, sixty percent of the population was killed.

  
  

  The walls of narrow valleys between heights tumbled down and buried hundreds of settlements with all their inhabitants in mere minutes.  

  
  

  Most of the population at the time lived in artificial caves in loess cliffs, many of which collapsed during the disaster

  
  

  Modern estimates give the earthquake a moment magnitude of approximately 8. Aftershocks continued several times a month for half a year.

  
  

  

  
  

  The epicenter was in Hua county in Shaanxi. It is also among the deadliest natural disasters in history, only outstripped by floods of China's Yellow River.

  
  

   It is noteworthy that 50 percent of most devastating natural disasters of all times happen in China. A big part of the Chinese territory is located in a seismically dangerous zone. In addition, China still remains the most populated country in the world.

  
  

  Shaanxi holds the lamentable record of human losses when it comes to earthquakes; the record has not been broken yet. 

  
  

  Southeast Asia has suffered one of the most powerful and destructive earthquakes in modern history. The monstrous wall of tidal water devastated Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives. The mammoth earthquake killed over 170 thousand people. The waves even reached the eastern coast of Africa: nine people were killed, 16 were missing. The waves went three kilometers inland in certain areas of Africa.

  
  

  The earthquake that rocked Southeast Asia was the strongest one since 1964, when a very strong quake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale occurred in Alaska. For the time being the latest earthquake in Southeast Asia ranks 11th on the list of most powerful quakes of modern times. It also enters top 30 of most destructive natural disasters in history. 

  
  

  -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1556_Shanxi_earthquake

  
  

  -http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/14794_quake.html

  
  

   

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