June 7, 1955 Earthquake: Yunnan Province, China
A magnitude 6 earthquake struck Yunnan Province, China on June 7, 1955 at 00:48:54 UTC.
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
- June 7, 1955
- Time
- 00:48:54 UTC
- Place
- Yunnan Province, China
- Magnitude
- 6 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 26.500° N, 101.100° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 4,524
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.
June 7, 1955, 08:48:54 local time, In and around Jiaodingshan, west of Huaping County, Yunnan Province, 26.5 N, 101.1 E, depth 2 km, magnitude 6, intensity VIII.
Ditches and dikes were damaged at more than 140 places. Houses cracked commonly. 4,524 rooms in tiled-roof houses and 174 in thatched cottages collapsed. Among them 1,712 (mostly old or built on sandy soil) were in the city. Cliffs broke off and rocks rolled down. Fissures occurred everywhere on hillsides, flat lands and river banks. The
fissures on flatland had a width up to tens of centimetres.
Those on hillsides were several centimetres in width and 1-2 km in length.
Yongsheng: Renlijie Street in the 2rd District suffered
heavily. Most house walls cracked and gables of old shabby houses collapsed. A part of the walls of buildings in the district government, co-op, and granaries collapsed. A stone memorial archway in the city broke down, destroying seven
houses.
Yongren and Yanfeng: Some ridge- or eavestiles
fell.
The quake was felt in Yuanrnou, Wuding, Dayao, Luoci, Lijiang, Jianchuan, Heqing. Binchuan and Yanbian.
(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
- March 16, 1925, Talifu, Yunnan Province, China
- July 13, 1652, Midu, Yunnan Province, China
- September 9, 1680, Yunnan Province, China
- May 25, 1751, Yunnan Province, China
- February 3, 1996, Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China
- October 23, 1515, Dali, Yunnan Province, China
- June 14, 1688, Yunnan Province, China
- February 23, 1839, Yunnan Province, China
- June 27, 1948, Yunnan Province, China
- April 2, 814, Xichang, Sichuan Province, China
- June 17, 1515, Heqing, Yunnan Province, China
- February 7, 1839, Yunnan Province, China
- October 23, 1995, Wuding, Yunnan Province, China
- August 7, 1878, Yunnan Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1955The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1955Recent 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 8043. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem889619, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.