December 22, 1906 Earthquake: Xinjiang Province, China

Name: December 22, 1906 Earthquake: Xinjiang Province, China
Start: 1906-12-22
Location: Xinjiang Province, China

December 22, 1906 · M8.3 · 280 deaths · 2,000 houses destroyed

A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck Xinjiang Province, China on December 22, 1906 at 18:21 UTC, 33 km below the surface. It killed 280 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 22, 1906
Time: 18:21 UTC
Place: Xinjiang Province, China
Magnitude: 8.3 (Ms)
Focal depth: 33 km (21 mi)
Intensity: IX, violent shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 43.500° N, 85.000° E
Country: China
Region: Central Asia and Caucasus
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

The toll

Deaths: 280
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Houses destroyed: 2,000

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.

From Wikipedia

The 1906 Manasi earthquake (玛纳斯地震), also known as the Manas earthquake occurred in the morning of December 23, 1906, at 02:21 UTC+8:00 local time or December 22, 18:21 UTC. It measured 8.0–8.3 on the moment magnitude scale and 8.3 on the surface-wave magnitude scale. The epicenter of this earthquake is located in Manas County, Xinjiang, China. An estimated 280–300 people died and another 1,000 more were injured by the earthquake.

Text from Wikipedia, “1906 Manasi earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

December 23, 1906, 02:21 local time, South of Shawan, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, 43.5 N, 85 E, depth 12 km.

The meizoseismal region involved villages Shizijie,

Bajiahu, Niujuanzi, Zhuanglangmiao, Xidatang, Shichang, ]iashiyao in Boluotonggu and the mountain areas around Dazimiao and Reshuiquanzi. In this seismal region, wood-beam mud houses totally collapsed, many wood structure houses also collapsed, and the remainder were mostly tilted.

Altogether, more than 2,000 rooms collapsed, killing more than 280 people. All thriving villages were reduced to debris. Most temples also collapsed under shaking. Ground fissures occurred every where, of 0.2-1 m in width and dozens to more than 100 m in length, some even stretching

as long as several kilometers. At the foot of a mountain was seen a new fracture, 1-5 m in width, and several kilometers in length, with an offset of 1.8 m. Landslides occurred in mountain areas, loosening huge rocks that slid down to block

up roads and river valleys. Slumps of canal banks, occurred at many places, varying in length from 5-15 km.

Shawan: Houses and walls cracked. About 30% of the houses collapsed without causing any casualties.

Manas: Some old houses cracked or collapsed.

Usu: Many wood-beam mud houses in and around Jiujianlou collapsed. A number of old house walls cracked in and around the county seat and Qianjin Pastureland.

Changji: Ridges of temples fell under rocking.

The earthquake Was also felt in Shihezi, Urausu, Anjihai, Uriimqi, Hejing (rocks on mountains fell), Toksun, Jinghe, Tacheng, Xinyuan, Turpan, Mori and Laoqitai.

(above from reference #3939)

December 22, 1906, E. Tien Shan, Sinkiang, magnitude 8.3. (reference #1002)

December 22, 1906, 18:21:00 UTC, 43.5 N, 85 E, shallow depth, magnitude 8.3. (reference #88)

December 22, 1906, 18:21:00 UTC, 43.5 N, 85 E, magnitude 7.9. (reference #130)

December 22, 1906, 43.5 N, 85 E, magnitude 7.9. (reference #1212)

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.
#130 Gutenberg, B. and C.F. Richter (1965). Seismicity of the earth and associated phenomena. Princeton University Press, 1954 (second edition); Hafner Publishing Company, New York and London (facsimile edition), 310 p.
#1002 Lomnitz, Cinna (1974). Development in Geotectonics #5, Global Tectonics and Earthquake Risk, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1974.
#88 Duda, Seweryn J. (1965). Secular seismic energy release in the circum-Pacific belt. Tectonophysics, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 409-452. DOI:10.1016/0040-1951(65)90035-1
#1212 Bapat, Arun, R.C. Kulkarni, and S.K. Guha (1983). Catalogue of Earthquakes in India and Neighbourhood, from Historical Period up to 1979. Indian Society of Earthquake Technology, Roorkee, India, 211 p.
#1048 Academia Sinica (1970). Catalog of Chinese Earthquakes; vol. I (1177 BC to 1900 AD) and vol. II (1901 to 1949). Institute of Geophysics, Peking, China. [in Chinese]

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1906 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1906 Recent earthquakes near here This 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 2794. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem16957935, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.