Significant earthquakes of 1985

April 18, 1985 Earthquake: Yunnan Province, China

April 18, 1985 · M5.8 · 23 deaths · $1 million

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Yunnan Province, China on April 18, 1985 at 05:52:52 UTC, 5 km below the surface. It killed 23 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
April 18, 1985
Time
05:52:52 UTC
Place
Yunnan Province, China
Magnitude
5.8 (Ms)
Magnitude scales
Ms 5.8 · mb 5.7
Focal depth
5 km (3 mi)
Intensity
VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami
None recorded
Epicenter
25.926° N, 102.871° E
Country
China
Region
East Asia

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths
23
Injuries
300
Damage
$1 million

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 happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Twenty-three people killed, 300 injured and damage in the Luquan-Xundian area. CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 11S, 23C Centroid Location: Origin Time 05:52:55.7 0.4 Lat 25.39N 0.05 Lon 102.64E 0.07 Dep 10.0 FIX Half-duration 3.0 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**24 D-CM Mrr=-0.93 0.17 Mtt=-0.65 0.21 Mff=1.58 0.30 Mrt=-0.59 0.49 Mrf=-2.49 0.62 Mtf=-4.00 0.16 Principal Axes: (T) Val=5.09 Plg=16 Azm=57 (N) Val=-0.31 Plg=56 Azm=172 (P) Val=-4.78 Plg=29 Azm=317 Best Double Couple:Mo=4.9*10**24 NP1:Strike=100 Dip=57 Slip=-170 NP2:Strike=5 Dip=82 Slip=-33

From the USGS event page for usp0002dwy. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.ScaleComputed byNotes
5.8Mw, momentUSGS National Earthquake Information CenterPreferred · Reviewed
5.74Mw, momentISC-GEM global catalogFinal · ±0.1
5.7Mwc, centroid momentGlobal CMT projectPreliminary

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Reference #1250 lists $1 million damage.

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

  1. #1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.
  2. #1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
  3. #1066 Mengin, O., editor (1980 to Present). UNDRO News, a bimonthly publication of the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization Coordinator, Geneva, Switzerland, 1980 to present.
  4. #1250 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) (2001). EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, link
  5. #1268 Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Chubb China Operators (2001). Risk Management Information - Natural Disasters Earthquakes. Retrieved October 18, 2001 from link

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1985The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1985Recent 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 5064. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0002dwy, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.