1605 Guangdong earthquake explained

1605 Guangdong earthquake
Pre-1900:yes
Local-Date:13 July 1605
Magnitude: 7.5
Location:19.9°N 110.5°W
Casualties:thousands

The 1605 Qiongshan earthquake occurred on 13 July (33rd year of reign of Emperor Wanli, May 28th in the Chinese lunar calendar) that struck Hainan[1] and the adjacent Guangdong province in China with an estimated magnitude of 7.5 with a maximum felt intensity of X (Extreme) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. It caused widespread damage, including the subsidence of large areas of farmland, swamping many villages and several thousand people were killed.[2]

According to the Chinese records about the event, in the reign of the Wanli Emperor, "there was a thunderous sound, the public office collapsed and the houses collapsed, and thousands of the dead were crushed in the county" and "the corpse is covered in pillows, bloody, touches the heart, and spit in the sky.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Jichu . Jin . Hongzhen . Wang . The Qiongshan Earthquake of July 1605 . Disasters . March 1988 . 12 . 1 . 22–36 . 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1988.tb01152.x . 20958647 . 1988Disas..12...22J .
  2. Web site: Significant Earthquake Information. 30 March 2022 . 10.7289/V5TD9V7K . National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database . 1972 . NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information .
  3. From 萬曆瓊州府志,book 12,書目文獻出版社, 1990, "三十三年五月二十八日亥時地大震。自東北起聲如雷,公署民房崩倒殆盡,郡城中壓死者幾千”;“亥時忽然震動,初如奔車之輾,繼如風揶之顛。”“屍骸枕藉,腥血薰沾,觸目摧心,慟天流涕。”