February 3, 1658 Earthquake: Hebei Province, China
A magnitude 6 earthquake struck Hebei Province, China on February 3, 1658.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- February 3, 1658
- Place
- Hebei Province, China
- Magnitude
- 6 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 39.400° N, 115.700° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000)
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100)
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
February 3, 1658, Laishui, Hebei Province, 39.4 N, 115.7 E, magnitude 6, intensity VIII. Houses and walls collapsed by shaking. Ground fissures, 10-20 cm in width, occurred everywhere. They were so deep that the bottom could not be seen. Many people were killed. Shocks occurred tens of times in the night. Thereafter, it occurred once per 3-5 days, till the end of the year. The shock also struck Dingxing, Xincheng, Cangxian, Yanshan, Shulu and Nanpi. (reference #3939)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #3939 Gu Gongxu, Zhou Wenfu, and Wang Renlong (eds.) (1989). Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes (1831 B.C. - 1969 A.D.). Science Press, Beijing, China; English translation by Li Zengquan et al. provided through UNESCO, 872 pages.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- July 27, 1976, Tangshan, NE, China
- 1057, Beijing, China
- September 2, 1679, Hebei Province, China
- August 1289, Beijing, China
- June 28, 1626, Shanxi Province, China
- September 30, 1730, Beijing, China
- 777, Shulu, Ningjin, Hebei Province, China
- September 294, Beijing, China
- October 6, 1628, Hebei Province, China
- October 18, 1989, Shanxi and Hebei Provinces, Datong, China
- December 2, 1882, Hebei Province, China
- March 1621, Hebei Province, China
- August 14, 1068, Cangzhou, Hejian, Hebei Province, China
- September 8, 1337, Huailai, Hebei, China
- January 26, 1911, Hebei Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1658The 1600sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 7957.