Kunming

Earthquakes near Kunming through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Kunming, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. The strongest on either list was an estimated magnitude 8 on September 6, 1833 (Yunnan Province).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Kunming in the last 30 days.

The latest: magnitude 4.7 on September 30 (24 km NNE of Kunming, China).

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.1 on January 4, 1970 (22 km SSW of Yuxi, China), for which NOAA records 15,621 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 27 here, back to 1499. NOAA records deaths in 18 of the events here, 46,662 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on August 12, 2018 (37 km E of Yuxi, China). NOAA’s record here begins in 1499 with an earthquake (Yunnan Province: Yi Liang). 17 of the 27 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Kunming.

The events

  • August 12, 2018Earthquake · M 5.037 km E of Yuxi, ChinaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • January 4, 1970Earthquake · M 7.122 km SSW of Yuxi, China · 15,621 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • September 6, 1833Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Yunnan Province · 6,700 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • September 6, 1833TsunamiYunnan ProvinceNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 2, 1733Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)Yunnan Province: DongchuanNOAA NCEI
  • 1499EarthquakeYunnan Province: Yi Liang · 10,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Kunming when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
  • USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
  • NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
  • Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
  • A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
  • Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history

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