August 10, 1959 Earthquake: Shaanxi Province, China
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Shaanxi Province, China on August 10, 1959 at 23:07:29 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
- August 10, 1959
- Time
- 23:07:29 UTC
- Place
- Shaanxi Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 35.600° N, 110.900° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 43
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.
Augusy 11, 1959, 07:07:29 local time, Neal' Hancheng, Shaanxi Province, 35.6 N 110.9 E, depth 17 km,
Hancheng: Half of a solid brick pagoda collapsed
under shaking in the Zhonglian Village. The walls of the main hall of Taishi Temple cracked in Zhichaan Town, fissures of various sizes occurred on the top of the tomb and in its enclosing brick walls. Over 10 houses collapsed in Longmen and Lieun.
Hejin, Shanxi: Most of the brick lattice walls of the temple collapsed at Jiulong Hill, and 3 old houses by the city gate collapsed.
Wanrong: Fissures occurred in 3 houses in the Jiacun
Mechanical Factory (30 houses, 10 caves and 223 walls were reportedly destroyed in the whole county). A quantity of cliffs of loess collapsed at Zhaizigou, Ronghe.
The shock was felt at Yichuan (an old cave dwelling
collapsed by shaking in the suburbs of the town).
Heyang, Chengcheng, Dali, Weinan, Pucheng and Huangling, in Shaanxi Province; Houma, Linjin, Xinjiang, Jishan, Linyi, Yuncheng, Pinglu, Wenxi, Yuanqu, Linfen and Lingshi, in Shanxi Province; and Shanxian, Mianchi, Lingbao, and Wenxiang, in Henan Province.
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.
- January 23, 1556, Shaanxi Province, China
- May 18, 1695, Linfen, Shanxi Province, China
- October 23, 1815, Shanxi Province, China
- December 4, 1209, Fushan, Shaanxi Province, China
- January 19, 1501, Chaoyi, Shaanxi Province, China
- August 25, 1291, Shaanxi Province, China
- March 23, 1827, Shanxi Province, China
- April 30, 1000, Shaanxi Province, China
- September 12, 649, Linfen, Shaanxi Province, China
- April 17, 1891, Shanxi Province, China
- October 16, 1505, Anyi, Gueheng, Shanxi Province, China
- December 23, 1862, Shanxi Province, China
- June 30, 1642, Shanxi Province, China
- September 1, 1964, Shanxi Province, China
- January 12, 1965, Shanxi Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1959The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1959Recent 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 8051. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem882609, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.