This Day In History

On this day in 1556 the deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The earthquake is believed to have claimed around 830,000 lives. It occured during the Ming Dynasty under the rule of the Jiajing Emperor and thus is referred to as the Jiajing Great Earthquake. More than 97 counties in the provinces surrounding Shaanxi were affected. An 840km wide area was completely destroyed by the disaster, and around 60% of the population of some counties were killed. Modern estimates place the earthquake’s magnitude at around 8. Whilst this is not the highest magnitude in history, the Shaanxi earthquake was still the deadliest earthquake and third deadliest natural disaster in history. Aftershocks continued for half a year.