October 8, 1948 Earthquake: Guizhou Province, China
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Guizhou Province, China on October 8, 1948 at 19:01:57 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
- October 8, 1948
- Time
- 19:01:57 UTC
- Place
- Guizhou Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.8 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 27.400° N, 104.000° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Deaths
- 3
- Injuries
- 75
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
October 9, 1948, 03:01:57 local time, North of Weining, Guizhou Province, 27.4 N, 104 E, magnitude 5.75, intensity VIII.
12 houses in Shimenkan collapsed completely. Stone slab
walls in a church cracked and sunk in part. The ground fissured on the northern bank of the river. Fractures more than 30 cm wide extended intermittently for about 200 km. Rocks rolled down hill.
Zhaotong: Battlements fell. Memorial archways collapsed.
More than 400 houses toppled down in the city. Classrooms and an auditorium in a school were damaged. Of the 36 houses in Xiaopuzi, 28 collapsed. The ground cracked and sunk. 3 persons were killed, and 75 persons were injured.
Weining: In the 7th district, roof-tiles were shaken out of place and mud walls cracked. All the houses in Laojiezi and Shuizhongxiang collapsed.
Daguan: Several battlements fell. Many old houses
collapsed. The ground sunk in the west street) and cracked behind the mountain south of the city, about 33 cm wide and 2.5 km long.
Yiliang: About 50% of the civilian houses in Xiaofalu and Maomaoshan collapsed. Landslides and ground fissures occurred.
Ludian: Several 2-storeyed buildings collapsed. The
top of a memorial archway in Longshanzhai fell.
Qiaojia: shocks occurred in the same year. Mud walls cracked. Yard walls collapsed occasionally. Lanslides occurred on mountains. Shocks were felt in Yibin.
(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.
- September 12, 1850, Xichang, Sichuan, China
- May 10, 1974, Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, Chao-T'Ung, China
- July 30, 1917, Yunnan Province, China
- August 3, 2014, Longtoushan, Zhaotong, Ludian, Yunnan, China
- April 2, 814, Xichang, Sichuan Province, China
- December 18, 1935, Sichuan Province, China
- September 7, 2012, Yiliang, Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, China
- May 14, 1930, Yunnan Province, China
- August 17, 1936, Yunnan Province, China
- April 18, 1985, Yunnan Province, China
- July 22, 2006, Yanjin, China
- June 17, 2019, Yibin, Sichuan, China
- 26 BC, Yibin, Sichuan, China
- November 14, 2003, Ludian, Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, China
- August 10, 2004, Ludian, Yunnan Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1948The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1948Recent 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 8022. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem897587, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.