May 27, 2008 Earthquake: Sichuan Province, China
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China on May 27, 2008 at 08:37:51 UTC, 10 km below the surface.
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
- May 27, 2008
- Time
- 08:37:51 UTC
- Place
- Sichuan Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.7 (Mw)
- Magnitude scales
- Mw 5.7 · Ms 5.2 · mb 5.5
- Focal depth
- 10 km (6 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 32.710° N, 105.540° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 20,000
- Houses damaged
- 20,000
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 happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
About 20,000 additional houses destroyed in Shaanxi and Sichuan. Felt (III) at Chengdu and Xi'an. Also felt at Baoji, Chongqing, Hanzhong, Lanzhou, Pingliang and Xianyang.
From the USGS event page for usp000g7w8. 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. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.7 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.48 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.5 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
About 20,000 additional houses destroyed in
Shaanxi and Sichuan. Felt (III) at Chengdu and Xi'an.
Also felt at Baoji, Chongqing, Hanzhong, Lanzhou,
Pingliang, Wuhan and Xianyang. (reference #1053)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #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.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- July 1, 1879, Gansu Province, China
- July 21, 1654, Tianshui, Gansu Province, China
- August 25, 1933, Sichuan Province, China
- February 22, 186 BC, Gansu Province, China
- July 20, 1881, Gansu Province, China
- August 1, 1936, Gansu Province, China
- January 14, 1885, Gansu Province, China
- January 1634, Xihe, Gansu Province, China
- August 8, 2017, Aba, Sichuan Province, China
- June 18, 1822, Gansu Province, China
- May 25, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
- June 22, 1880, Wenxian, Gansu Province, China
- August 5, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
- December 9, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
- July 24, 2008, Sichuan Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 2008The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2008Recent 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 8124. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp000g7w8, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.