Zhaotong

Earthquakes near Zhaotong through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Zhaotong, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. The strongest on either list was a magnitude 7.5, twice: on August 2, 1733 (Yunnan Province: Dongchuan) and on September 12, 1850 (Sichuan: Xichang).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Zhaotong in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The one on September 12, 1850 was the deadliest: NOAA records 20,650 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 21 here, back to AD 814. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 23,327 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.1 on May 18, 2020 (42 km W of Zhaotong, China). NOAA’s record here begins on April 2, 814 with an earthquake (Sichuan Province: Xichang). It grows thinner going back: 14 of the 21 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Zhaotong.

The events

  • May 18, 2020Earthquake · M 5.142 km W of Zhaotong, China · 4 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 14, 1918TsunamiYunnan ProvinceNOAA NCEI
  • September 12, 1850Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)Sichuan: Xichang · 20,650 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • August 2, 1733Earthquake · M 7.5 (est.)Yunnan Province: DongchuanNOAA NCEI
  • April 2, 814Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)Sichuan Province: Xichang · 101 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Zhaotong 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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