February 11, 1969 Earthquake: Wushi, Xinjiang Province, China

February 12, 1969, 06-08-54 (Beijing local time), Northeast of Wushi (Uqturpan), Xinjiang Autonomous Region, 41 deg 27 min N, 79 deg 22 min E, magnitude 6.3, intensity VII, focal depth: 10 km.

About 800 houses collapsed, killing two persons,

wounding a few others, and killing a part of domestic

animals in the Yengiawat Commune and Agricultural No.1 Division, No.4 Regiment, northeast of Ushi.

Water Management Office: Most houses collapsed.

No.5 Company: Nearly 70% of the 250 buildings of

the company collapsed; 30% suffered damage in varying degrees; 3 of the 4 wells collapsed under shaking. A few people were injured.

No.6 Company: A part of the houses collapsed; the

majority suffered damage in varying degrees. Fissures occurred at most places.

No.7 Company: Most houses collapsed or destroyed;

better construction also suffered damage or cracked.

Yengiawat Commune: Of the 500 families at the

Kuqi Brigade, 300 mud-block houses collapsed and another 140 houses suffered damage. Two

persons and part of domestic animals were killed.

A part of houses collapsed at No.7 and No.8 teams, northeast of Kalabak; the rest suffered damage in varying degrees. Ground fissures of different widths, from 1 cm in general up to 10 cm in particular, occurred at Qiulaket. A large stone 1 m long and 0.8 m thick slid half a meter down a hill slope; more ground fissures, about 10-20 cm in width, occurred in the valley of Atuzidi extending, on and off, for a hundred odd meters on the hillside and the terrace; a mud wall collapsed in a gully. Ground fissures occurred in Shalam, Valley. In 1971, investigators discovered that the ground fissures, hundred odd meters in length and about 10 cm in width, tended 125 deg N,; the collapse occurred commonly on the steep loess banks of the riverbed; low hills and cliffs collapsed seriously, damming the canal. Wood-frame houses tilted northwards in the Payizil Valley; walls cracked; the steep banks of the valley collapsed. Two springs dried up after shaking; houses collapsed at No.6 Brigade; ground fissures occurred on the riverbed of the Toxkan River.

Nos. 10, II 12, 13, 14, 15 companies: Fissures.

occurred in houses; a few houses collapsed partly.

No. II Brigade, Haiyang Commune: 10 old clod houses collapsed, the remaining houses were cracked.

No.12 Brigade, Hongqi Commune: A few houses were cracked.

Qianjin Commune: Ground fissures were discovered near the Toxkan River.

Wushi (Uqturpan): A few houses were cracked in Ohengguan Commune.

Aksu: 319 houses collapsed, 253 were cracked, and

24 livestock sheds collapsed.

Aftershocks continued till February 14.

(above from reference #3939)