September 12, 1850 Earthquake: Xichang, Sichuan, China

September 12, 1850, Near Xichang, Sichuan Province, 27.8 N, 102.3 E, magnitude 7.25, intensity X.

Xichang and its environs, as well as Shangsuo, Zhongsuo,

Xiasuo, Lizhou, Taihechang, Gaocaoba, Dechangsuo, Yushuichang and other townships belonging

to the city were stricken by the earthquake with

disaster. The city walls in Xichang County fell

down for more than 70 min length; three gate towers

- the west, south and north, and all government

offices, storehouses, temples and prisons collapsed.

Guandi Temple, LongshenTemple,LingluanTemple

and Chuanzhu Temple and the ancestral shrines

were toppled down, and the White Tower Temple

was razed. The White Tower and furnaces for burning wastepaper (in Hexi and Lizhou) toppled down.

Most houses in the city collapsed; streets were

blocked by timbers with stones and became unrecognizable.

More than 27,880 families were damage stricken,

more than 26,100 rooms in thatched cottages

and tile-roofed houses collapsed, more than

20,650 people were killed. A land fissure, 7-10 m

in width, 13-17 m in depth and 20-33 m in length,

occurred in the area just outside a city gate, but soon

closed again, pedestrians were squeezed to death.

Roads cracked and big trees fell. Along the Qionghai

Lake in the eastern suburb occurred landslides,

earth slumps and ground fissures with water gushed

out. Ground cracks, 0.3-1 m in width, occurred

along the Beishan Mountain, Qionghai Lake and Anning

River with ejection of sandy water. Qionghai

Lake overflowed and inundated villages.

Huili: Old houses in the city- collapsed; houses of

1,838 families were collapsed, and 2,876 people were

killed in the city and 14 residential areas, including

Songlinping, Pisha, Xincun and others.

Ningnan (Pisha): From Ningyuan Prefecture to Pisha,

landslides and earthquakes occurred; houses and temples totally collapsed.

Mianning: A part of southern city walls was destroyed.

Old houses collapsed. Yuhuang Temple in Lugu toppled down; tombs in Shilong destroyed; some people were injured or killed.

Puge: Many mud houses collapsed; landslides and

ground fissures occurred; some people were killed.

Zhaojue: Some houses collapsed; people and domestic

animals were injured or killed.

Xide: A few houses collapsed, lurched or cracked.

Yanyuan: Dozens of civilian rooms of houses collapsed..

Dozens of people were killed.

Qiaojia: Several hundred rooms of civilian houses

collapsed and several hundred people were killed.

Houses collapsed in Yuexi, Dechang, Hexi (northeast

of Yanyuan County, on the east bank of the Yalong

River), Miyi, Mianshan and other places.

Besides, the shock was felt at Nanchong, Renshou,

Nanxi, Qingfu, Junlian and Leshan in Sichuan Province and Xuanwei, Pu'er, Yongsheng and Yanfeng in Yunnan Province.

(above from reference #3939)