Published : 11/12/2025
China is one of the countries with the most frequent and severe earthquake disasters. On average, over 30 earthquakes of magnitude 5 and above occur each year, and over one-third of them occur in just one province!
5 concentrated regions, 23 seismic belts
Earthquakes can be categorised into types such as volcanic earthquakes, tectonic earthquakes, collapse earthquakes, and induced earthquakes.
Over 90% of the world's earthquakes are tectonic earthquakes, which are caused by the faulting and rupture of rock layers due to crustal movement. This type of earthquake has a high intensity and a wide impact area.
There are three main seismic belts in the world: the Eurasian Seismic Belt, the Mid-ocean Ridge Seismic Belt, and the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt, the last of which is the most widespread and experiences the highest frequency of earthquakes.
Due to China's geographical location, it is affected by the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt in the east, while its southwest and northwest regions lie on the Eurasian Seismic Belt.
Within China, there are also 5 regions of concentrated seismic activity and 23 distributed seismic belts. Over half of the provinces and regions are located on seismic belt, including Guangdong, which neighbours Hong Kong.
It should be noted that seismic belts are regions demarcated by experts based on historical records where the probability of an earthquake occurring is higher, but this does not mean that earthquakes will not occur outside of seismic belts.
Read more: Does China have active volcanoes? 14 of them! This one is the most dangerous.....
Taiwan experiences 1,000 earthquakes annually
What does the high frequency of earthquakes in China actually mean? According to media reports, in the 100 years from 1914 to 2014, there were 3,888 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above in China, and as many as 126 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above.
Another set of data is even more shocking: on less than 7% of the world's landmass, China has experienced about one-third of the world's continental earthquakes. Approximately 57% of cities in China and 58% of its territory are located in high-risk seismic zones.
Which province in China experience the most earthquakes? Many people would guess Taiwan, which lies on the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt. The aforementioned 100-year statistics show that 36.6% of the nation's earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above occurred in Taiwan.
Taiwan also encountered the most earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, accounting for 34.1% of the national total, with 43 occurrences.
If earthquakes of all magnitudes are counted, the number of earthquakes in Taiwan might be beyond most people's imagination.
According to data from the local meteorological department, nearly 40,000 earthquakes are currently recorded in Taiwan each year, of which about 1,000 are felt earthquakes, averaging nearly three times a day.
When talking about earthquakes in Taiwan, many people will remember the "921 Nantou Earthquake" in 1999. Its epicentre was near Jiji Township in Nantou, central Taiwan, with a magnitude of 7.3, causing the complete destruction of more than 50,000 houses in many counties and cities and the deaths of over 2,400 people.
The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake: 240,000 fatalities
Besides Taiwan, Xizang, Xinjiang and Yunnan are also seismically active provincial administrative regions. Over a hundred-year period, these three areas have experienced more than 1,400 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above, accounting for 36.6% of the total.
It is important to note that the intensity of an earthquake is related to its magnitude, the depth of hypocentre and the distance from it.
For earthquakes of the same magnitude, the shallower the focus, the greater the intensity and the stronger the destructive power. What is intensity? In short, it is the degree of shaking caused by the earthquake.
The extent of damage and the number of casualties caused by an earthquake also depend on where it occurs. If an earthquake occurs in a sparsely populated area, the impact may be relatively small. If it occurs near a city, the situation can be very serious. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake in Hebei Province on 28 July 1976 is an example of the latter.
The epicentre of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake was near the urban area of Tangshan, with a magnitude of 7.8 and a focal depth of only 12 kilometres.
As a result, the entire city was instantly razed to the ground, and 42,000 people in the local and surrounding areas were killed. This was the earthquake with the most severe damage and casualties in China since the 20th century.
The magnitude 8 Wenchuan Earthquake: 5% of the country's territory Affected
Half a century has passed, Tangshan has re-emerged from the ruins. Today, Tangshan is a heavy industrial base and port city with a population of over 7 million. Its GDP has surpassed that of the provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, ranking first in Hebei Province.
Among the severe earthquake disasters in modern China, the great Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, which occurred on 12 May 2008, just over two months before the Beijing Olympics, must also be mentioned.
The Wenchuan Earthquake reached a magnitude of 8, with the disaster area covering 500,000 square kilometres, accounting for more than 5% of the country's total area. Several towns near the epicentre, such as the county seat of Beichuan and Yingxiu Town in Wenchuan County, were turned into ruins.
Across all areas, more than 80,000 people died or went missing, and over 6.5 million houses collapsed. Of course, with support from all partire, the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake have also rebuilt their homes.
As the epicentre was located at a high altitude and it was a shallow earthquake, coupled with the harder rock formations in the central region, the seismic waves were able to travel further, affecting most of China and half of Asia. Many people in Southeast Asia felt this earthquake.
Disaster prevention and mitigation are more important
In addition, other earthquakes with severe damage since the founding of New China include the magnitude 7.8 Tonghai earthquake in Yunnan in 1970 and the magnitude 7.1 Yushu earthquake in Qinghai in 2010.
People may remember that Wong Fuk-wing, a volunteer from Hong Kong, was caught in the earthquake in Yushu. He tragically sacrificed his life while rushing into a collapsed orphanage to save people.
Finally, earthquakes are unavoidable, so it is important to carry out disaster mitigation and prevention effectively.
The authorities have already implemented stricter seismic fortification standards for buildings and infrastructure, while also strengthening the development of disaster relief teams and the stockpiling of emergency supplies.
It is also indispensable to popularise disaster prevention and mitigation knowledge among the public.
China has also built the world's most powerful National Earthquake Early Warning Project. The operation of this system and its potential applications will be described in another article.