December 11, 1855 Earthquake: Liaoning Province, China
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Liaoning Province, China on December 11, 1855. It killed 7 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
- December 11, 1855
- Place
- Liaoning Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.5 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 39.100° N, 121.600° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Deaths
- 7
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 560
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.
December 11, 1855, Jinxian, Liaoning Province, 39.1 N, 121.6 E, magnitude 5.5, intensity VII.
20 battlements of city walls on three sides - the south, north and west were smashed; city walls; were cleft down at 2 localities, 50 m length. Over 560 rooms of civilian houses in villages in Siqi Banner fell in, killing 7 persons.
The earthquake also struck Fuxian.
3 shocks occurred from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m, on December 11; 3 great shocks occurred from 3 a.m, until 1 p.m. December 12; Shocks occurred every day from 9 p.m, on January 9 until 5 p.m. January 20 of the next year, varying daily from 1-5 shocks, and numbering 44 shocks in total.
Note: Siqi Banner was located in the northwest of the
county.
(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.
More
Significant earthquakes of 1855The 1800sRecent 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 7985.