January 3, 1930 Earthquake: Jiangsu Province, China
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Jiangsu Province, China on January 3, 1930. It caused a tsunami.
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
- January 3, 1930
- Place
- Jiangsu Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.5 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 32.200° N, 119.400° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Injuries
- Some (about 51 to 100)
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
January 3, 1930, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, 32.2 N, 119.4 E, magnitude 5.5, intensity VII.
Zhenjiang: Skylight glass cracked in quantity in all
2-storied buildings by the riverside. Walls collapsed at 5 or 6 places in the city. Many small wharfs and thatched cottages at the Yuntai Hill collapsed also, and some children were injured. Some boats were pushed to the bank, others ripped off mooring, driven into the river and capsized. The shock was felt in Nanjing and Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province; Wuhu (one wall collapsed.) and Chuxian, Auhui Province. (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.
- December 1037, Taichou, Jiangsu Province, China
- July 9, 1979, Liyang, Jiangsu Province, China
- August 16, 1372, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- July 19, 1928, Sichuan Province, China
- July 20, 2012, Jiangsu Province, China
- August 4, 499, Jiangsu Province, China
- October 999, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- April 22, 1974, Jiangsu Province, China
- December 16, 1679, Jiangsu Province, China
- October 30, 1868, Anhui Province, China
- November 18, 1829, Anhui Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1930The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1930Recent 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 8000.