August 30, 1748 Earthquake: Sichuan Province, China
A magnitude 6 earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China on August 30, 1748. It killed 5 people.
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
- August 30, 1748
- Place
- Sichuan Province, China
- Magnitude
- 6 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 30.400° N, 101.600° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 72
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.
August 30, 1748, NW of Kangding, Sichuan Province, 30.4 N,
101.6 E, magnitude 6, intensity VII.
In Zhonggu, of the 62 households 72 Tibetan stone rooms collapsed. Five people and more than 270 domestic animals were killed.
Kangding: Four Tibetan stone rooms and some walls in 6 houses collapsed.
The shock also struck Luhuo, Xiaojin, Guanghan, Shifang, Ya'an, Yingjing, Mingshan, Tianquan, Lushan, Changning, Pingshan, Deyang, Meishan and Pengshan,
The earth quaked seven times from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.
the next day. (Fig. 81).
Note: At noon, October 12, 1748, another earthquakeoccurred
in and around at Kangding, Guanxian
and Pengxian. At Kangding, roads between.
Ze'erjiao of Kasa Garrison and Chongdetai
were damaged, a room in a granary collapsed.
In Guanxian old enclosing walls of the Qingyunying
powder-magazine collapsed 10 m
long. In Pengxian, a number of tiles slid off
roofs in temples and official buildings. The
shock also struck Qionglai, Mianzhu and Luoliang during 1-3 p.m.
(above from 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.
- May 12, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
- March 24, 1923, Sichuan Province, China
- December 8, 1816, Sichuan Province, China
- May 25, 1948, Sichuan Province, China
- September 27, 1811, E. of Ganze, Sichuan Province, China
- June 1, 1786, S of Kangding, Sichuan Province, China
- August 30, 1904, Sichuan Province, China
- August 29, 1893, Sichuan Province, China
- September 7, 1792, N of Qianning, Sichuan Province, China
- May 15, 1793, Near Qianning, Sichuan Province, China
- March 6, 1932, Sichuan Province, China
- September 20, 1933, Sichuan Province, China
- August 24, 1930, Sichuan Province, China
- April 20, 2013, Longmen, Sichuan Province, China
- January 23, 1981, Sichuan Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1748The 1700sRecent 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 7965.