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Floods, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes: History’s Most Consequential Natural Catastrophes

Khalid Elhassan December 22, 2024 15 min

Catastrophe - The Thera Eruption — The Thera Eruption. Sci Tech Daily

18. A Massive Zone of Destruction

Catastrophe - Unearthed town, once buried by the 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake — Unearthed town, once buried by the 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake. Imgur

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake opened up fissures up to 70 feet deep in the earth. The ground suddenly rose up in some place to form new hills, while in other places hills crumbled and subsided into valleys. 97 counties in Shaanxi and surrounding provinces were devastated. The earthquake destroyed nearly everything within an area more than 500 miles wide, and damage was inflicted as far as 310 miles from the epicenter. Aftershocks continued for six months. In many counties within the zone of destruction, over 60% of the population was killed outright, with many others injured, and all the survivors left without shelter.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.