China earthquakes

M6.5 earthquake 40 km W of Nangong, China

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 40 km W of Nangong, China on Tue, Mar 8, 1966, 5:29 AM GMT+8 (21:29 UTC), 24 km (15 mi) below the surface.

A larger quake followed: M6.8 34 km NW of Nangong, China. This one was a foreshock.

Nangong forecast More in China

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 6.5 (mw), strong
Local time: Tue, Mar 8, 1966, 5:29 AM GMT+8
UTC: 1966-03-07 21:29:18 UTC
Depth: 23.7 km (14.7 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 37.308° N, 114.919° E
Region: China
Strongest shaking: VII, very strong shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 4359), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 8,064
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more)
Houses destroyed: Very many (over 1,000)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: VII, very strong shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 24.7% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 3.4 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude uncertainty: ±0.20
Depth from: From location

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 3.5 and up: 14 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.

After

Earthquakes today China earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event iscgem849021 (also filed as atlas19660307212916). Read Mon, Sep 28, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC.