Earthquakes near Lüliang through history

The strongest was a magnitude 8, twice: on September 17, 1303 (Shanxi Province) and on May 18, 1695 (Shanxi Province: Linfen). The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 7.3 on January 9, 1038 (Shaanxi Province: Dingxiang, Xinxian), for which NOAA records 32,300 deaths. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 53,332 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is an estimated magnitude 5.8 on April 17, 1891 (Shanxi Province). NOAA’s record here begins on January 9, 1038 with an earthquake (Shaanxi Province: Dingxiang, Xinxian).

• April 17, 1891Earthquake · M 5.8 (est.)Shanxi Province · 31 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• May 18, 1695Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Shanxi Province: Linfen · 20,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• September 17, 1303Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Shanxi ProvinceNOAA NCEI
• January 9, 1038Earthquake · M 7.3 (est.)Shaanxi Province: Dingxiang, Xinxian · 32,300 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Lüliang 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