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Historic Disasters That Were Way Worse Than People Think

Khalid Elhassan April 6, 2020 33 min

Yellow River - 1887 Yellow River flood — 1887 Yellow River Flood. Hakai Magazine

24. Disaster Strikes Shaanxi in 1556

The epicenter of the 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake. Wikimedia

Ming Dynasty China was rocked by a massive earthquake early in the morning of January 23^rd, 1556. It was the epicenter in the Wei River Valley’s Huazhou District, in Shaanxi. Damage across a region stretching for hundreds of miles was extensive, and the loss of life was horrific. Because it occurred during the reign of the Jiaging Emperor, the earthquake is often referred to in traditional Chinese history as the Jiajing Earthquake. Today, it is more commonly known as the Shaanxi Earthquake of 1556. Whatever the designation, it proved to be the most catastrophic earthquake in human history.

The upheaval lasted for only a few seconds, but the results were astonishing. Mountains were leveled, fissures up to 66 feet deep were opened, river paths were altered, massive flooding and massive landslides occurred, and extensive fires were ignited that lasted for days. Over half the population of Huazhou was killed, as every single home and building was destroyed in an upheaval that probably registered 8 on the Richter scale.

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.