August 28, 2009 Earthquake: Qinghai Province, China
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck Qinghai Province, China on August 28, 2009 at 01:52:06 UTC, 13 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
- August 28, 2009
- Time
- 01:52:06 UTC
- Place
- Qinghai Province, China
- Magnitude
- 6.2 (Mw)
- Magnitude scales
- Mw 6.2 · Ms 6.2 · mb 6.2
- Focal depth
- 13 km (8 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 37.696° N, 95.718° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- Central Asia and Caucasus
- 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
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses damaged
- 30 with its tsunami and other effects
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.
At least 30 houses damaged and a coal mine collasped in the epicentral area.
From the USGS event page for usp000h0y8. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 6.26 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 6.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
| 5.97 | Me, energy | Choy, USGS energy magnitude | Reviewed |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
At least 30 houses damaged and a coal mine collapsed in the epicentral area. (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.
More
Significant earthquakes of 2009The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2009Recent 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 8512. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp000h0y8, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.