On January 23, 1556, the Great China Earthquake struck, killing 830,000 people. It is considered the largest earthquake in history by death toll. Modern scientists estimate its magnitude at 8.7.
The earthquake’s epicenter was in Shaanxi County, near Weihe, a right tributary of the Yellow River. This is China’s oldest agricultural region, densely populated even at that time (in fact, it was one of the most densely populated areas on the planet). The tremors were so powerful that 20-meter-wide cracks and sinkholes opened in the ground, which immediately filled with water and mud carried by the mudflows, drowning people in the liquefied soil. Destruction could be seen within a radius of 850 kilometers from the epicenter.
In Shaanxi, more than 60% of the population perished, with some areas completely depopulated. This enormous death toll is due to the fact that most of the population lived in loess-covered buildings, which collapsed after the initial tremors.
It was also believed at the time that it was safer to stay indoors during an earthquake. Consequently, many residents died without even attempting to escape their homes. Those buildings that survived (such as the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an) sank their foundations two meters into the ground.
The Great Chinese Earthquake is the third disaster in human history whose death toll has been recorded in writing.
This is what is written in the chronicles:
“In the winter of 1556, a catastrophic earthquake struck Shaanxi and the surrounding provinces. Our county, Hua, was beset by numerous disasters and calamities. Mountains and rivers shifted their positions, roads were destroyed. In some places, the earth suddenly rose, creating new hills, or, conversely, parts of former hills sank underground, collapsed, and became new plains.”
The Portuguese monk Gaspar da Cruz, who visited China in 1556, described the earthquake in detail in his book, “Treatise on China.” True, with true Christian mercy, he added that it was God’s punishment for the Chinese not being Christians.
