1932 Earthquake: Sichuan Province, China
A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China in 1932.
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
- 1932
- Place
- Sichuan Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 31.800° N, 102.200° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Deaths
- Few (about 1 to 50)
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50)
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.
1932, Markam, Sichuan Province, 31.8 N, 102.2 E, magnitude 5, intensity VI-VII.
A few houses collapsed partly, some walls were split by shaking, the roof of the watchtower fell and the fissures, 1 m in width, occurred in the stone walls, with loss of people and livestock near Shangbazhai and Ganyan.
Jinchuan (Dajin): Houses were slightly tilted, and
mud houses fissured in Chonghua. Individual Tibetan-type 2-storied buildings collapsed at the top by shaking. The stone walls fell in part and fissured in the Lieduo Village.
Danba: Roofs of individual blockhouses fell under
shaking, houses fissured and tilted.
Guanxian: Roof tiles fell off the eaves.
Note: According to investigation material, the shock
was probably the same that Kangding experienced on March 6, 1932.
(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.
- #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.
- May 12, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
- August 25, 1933, Sichuan Province, China
- March 24, 1923, Sichuan Province, China
- December 8, 1816, Sichuan Province, China
- September 27, 1811, E. of Ganze, 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
- April 20, 2013, Longmen, Sichuan Province, China
- January 23, 1981, Sichuan Province, China
- October 8, 1941, Sichuan Province, China
- March 6, 1748, Sichuan Province, China
- August 30, 1748, Sichuan Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1932The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1932Recent earthquakes near here
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 3482.