March 9, 1944 Earthquake: Xinjiang Province, China
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Xinjiang Province, China on March 9, 1944 at 22:12:58 UTC. It killed 3 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
- March 9, 1944
- Time
- 22:12:58 UTC
- Place
- Xinjiang Province, China
- Magnitude
- 7.2 (Ms)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 44.000° N, 84.000° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- Central Asia and Caucasus
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Deaths
- 3
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100)
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.
March 10, 1944, 06:12:58 local time, Northeast of Xinyuan, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, 44 N, 84 E, magnitude 7.2.
About 30% of adobe and old shabby houses 7 km north of Kansugonkou collapsed, 3-4 persons and 20 head of livestock were killed. Landslides 10-100 m wide and about 300-500 m long with scarps of 10-60m occurred in the loess slope in the Aksay and Koksay gullies. Felt aftershocks continued for
more than 40 days after the main shock.
Xinyuan: The enclosing walls of Kansu pastureland
collapsed. Fissures occurred in hill slopes. Earth hills in Aramara West Gully east of Turgen, fissured 50-250 m long and 3-5 m wide.
Jinghe: Rocks rolled down bedrock mountain in Jibuk Cliff, the bigger ones were about 4-5 m2 in size.
Wusn: A few adobe wail houses in Sikeshu Viliage
collapsed, and walls of the Town God's Temple were destroyed.
Yining: Some old houses collapsed.
(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.
- December 22, 1906, Xinjiang Province, China
- December 8, 2016, Urumqi, N. Xinjiang, China
- April 24, 1955, Xinjiang Province, China
- November 23, 2006, North, Xinjiang Province, China
- June 29, 2012, Xinjiang Province, China
- March 8, 1812, Xinjiang Province, China
- August 8, 2017, Bortala, Xingjiang, China
- February 22, 2015, Shawan, Xinjiang Province, China
- November 1, 2011, Xinjiang Province, China
- February 13, 2003, Urumqi, N. Xinjiang, China
- July 20, 2007, Tekes, Xinjiang, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1944The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1944Recent 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 8018. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem899329, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.