Earthquakes in China, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 283 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off China. 35 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.6 on August 15, 1950 (1950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 47 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 23 (18 km NNW of Yongning, China). The strongest: magnitude 7 on October 22 (191 km ENE of Nagqu, China).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.5 on July 27, 1976 (17 km NE of Penguanzhuang, China), for which NOAA records 242,769 deaths. 352 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 146 of the events here, 449,073 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on May 17, 2026 (20 km NW of Liuzhou, China). NOAA lists 19 tsunamis that began in or off China. The highest water NOAA records here was 50 m, on June 15, 2007.
The events
- May 17, 2026Earthquake · M 5.020 km NW of Liuzhou, China · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 12, 2008Earthquake · M 7.958 km W of Tianpeng, China · 87,652 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 15, 2007Tsunami · 50 m hereDayantang, EnshiNOAA NCEI
- July 27, 1976Earthquake · M 7.517 km NE of Penguanzhuang, China · 242,769 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 15, 1950Earthquake · M 8.61950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake · 1,530 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 7, 1937Earthquake · M 7.8Southern Qinghai, ChinaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 25, 1932Earthquake · M 7.8108 km WSW of Laojunmiao, China · 275 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 10, 1931Earthquake · M 7.9172 km SE of Altay, China · 10,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 22, 1927Earthquake · M 7.731 km SSW of Wuwei, China · 40,912 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for China when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where China is the nearest country.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around China, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- 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