Are there any records of earthquakes in the history of our country?

Epicenter location: near Zhao Cheng (36.33 degrees north latitude,11.7 degrees east longitude) between Hong Tong and Huoxian, Shanxi Province, China.

Earthquake magnitude: 8.

Focal depth: about 17km.

The Fenhe River Basin in Shanxi Province is an earthquake-prone area and an important part of the North China seismic belt. Fenhe river basin is a developed area in culture and economy in history, and some major earthquakes are recorded in different details in local urban and rural areas. 1303 September 17 At about 8 pm Beijing time (the sixth day of August in Dade, Yuan Dynasty), a strong wind suddenly blew in the vast urban and rural areas of southern Shanxi, which sounded like a huge thunder, shaking the earth, landslides, ground fissures, village castles and houses trapped in the city. This is the record of Hongdong 8 near Zhao Cheng, which has been recorded in detail in history. The damaged areas reached Taiyuan and Ding Xin in the north, Yuncheng in the south and parts of Henan and Shaanxi provinces in the south. The records of 5 1 counties in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces recorded the damage of this earthquake. The damaged area is distributed along the Fenhe River basin, 500 kilometers long from north to south and 250 kilometers wide from east to west. The intensity of the earthquake zone is 1 1 degree.

The losses and casualties caused by this earthquake are extremely heavy. In Huoxian, Zhao Cheng and Hongdong areas, almost all the houses with a length of 44 kilometers from north to south and a width of 18 kilometers from east to west collapsed, and in no one lives. A large-scale landslide occurred in Kuaibao, Zhaocheng County, ranging from Kuaibao Bridge and Hanjiazhuang in the northeast to Yingtian and Beiqibao in the southwest. The length of the ground slide is about1.600m, and the width is1.400m.. The villages on the sliding body moved for several kilometers with the sliding body, destroying many village castles, canals and roads. Debris flow and bank collapse also occurred near the landslide and wharf village to the south. The disaster swept Huoxian, Lingshi, Jiexiu, Xiaoyi, Pingyao, Fenyang, Qixian and Xugou in the north of Zhao Cheng, and Linfen, Fushan, Xiangfen and Quwo in the south. The houses of officials and civilians have disappeared, and there are ground fissures and urban depressions everywhere. Its periphery reaches Xinxian and Dingxiang in the north, Qinyang in Henan in the south, Changzhi and Zuo Quan in the east, and Daning and Chaoyi in Shaanxi in the west, all of which are damaged to varying degrees. There are very few buildings in the whole earthquake zone, even large ancient buildings such as temples, temples, yamen and Confucianism with thick walls, thick columns and many beams, which have good seismic performance, have been destroyed in more than 1400 places. However, Wanrong, Jishan and Linyi counties located on the Emei platform between Linfen Basin and Yuncheng Basin are slightly damaged, especially the "Fengbo Shi Yu Temple" built on the top of Emei platform is intact, which is inseparable from the good seismic performance of the building itself and the good foundation properties of the platform. The platform structure is undeveloped, covered with Quaternary loess from tens of meters to more than 100 meters, and the groundwater level is less than 100 meters deep. During the earthquake, there were no phenomena such as sand liquefaction and foundation damage, which protected the building from other factors besides vibration, so the disaster was relatively small.

Regarding the death toll of this earthquake, Jixian County's "Temple Monument of the Great Emperor" recorded that "Hedong earthquake killed more than 200,000 people, leaving three or four houses". Wanli's "Linfen County Records" records that "more than 200,000 people died at that time, which was terrible". According to the geographical records of Yuan history, Taiyuan Road governed more than 20 counties at that time, including most of Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Xinzhou and Lvliang, with a population of 15532 1, and Pingyang Road governed more than 50 counties, including Linfen, Yuncheng, most of southeastern Shanxi and Jinzhong, with a population of 270 1268. The total population of Lianglu Road is 42,5441,and the death toll of this earthquake accounts for about 50% of the total population, and the counties in the earthquake area are as high as 70%. The inscription on the brick wall of Yuan Tomb in Jiajiazhuang, Xiaoyi County reads "Houses are destroyed, land is leveled, and people die without burial". Due to the severe disaster, Yuan Chengzong timur issued 96,500 bank notes and relief supplies, exempted the tax on poverty in Iraq, and opened the mountain farm and the river berth to listen to the people to collect and catch them through the disaster year. After the earthquake, aftershocks lasted for several years, and there was no harvest for three consecutive years. People are hungry, cold and homeless. The earthquake disaster is so serious, except that the magnitude of the earthquake is very large, which occurred around 8 pm, and many people were indoors, so the collapse of houses would inevitably lead to a catastrophe; Extreme seismic zones are mainly concentrated in the densely populated Dayuan and Linfen basins, with weak foundations. The destruction of foundation aggravated the earthquake damage of buildings. The building quality in this area (especially the earth-walled houses and caves) is poor, and it is very earthquake-resistant. In addition, there was no earthquake before the earthquake, and people were not alert and vigilant. After the earthquake, everyone lost the ability to save themselves, and there was no rescue force to go to the scene at that time, so it was difficult for the victims to be rescued, thus forming a strange disaster.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month (1556 65438+1October 23rd) in the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, a major earthquake occurred in the eastern part of Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, which was the one with the largest number of deaths in the history of China.

According to the historical records at that time, modern scientists infer that the earthquake intensity at that time was 8 to 8.3, and the intensity was 1 1 degree. The hardest hit area is 280 thousand square kilometers, distributed in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu and other provinces; The seismic wave shook more than half of China, and the feeling range was as far away as Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi. Aftershocks occur three to five times a month and last for half a year.

The epicentre of this earthquake is located in hua county, Shaanxi Province. Because the earthquake happened at midnight, most people are still sleeping, and the epicenter area is densely populated, so the seismic performance of buildings is poor. Therefore, "830,000 scholars were killed by soldiers and civilians, and there are countless unknown people who didn't report it", and 60% of Fiona Fang's population was killed within 800 kilometers (the so-called "two thousand miles" in Jiajing's memoir of the Ming Dynasty). As for the midwinter earthquake, the victims died of hunger and cold, and the victims died of secondary disasters such as plague the following year, which has not yet been counted.

In Xi 'an, the top of the original 15 storey Little Wild Goose Pagoda was destroyed by the earthquake, leaving only 13 storey.

According to Qing Shunzhi's Records of Dengzhou (now dengzhou city, Henan Province), on the night of the earthquake, Dengxian and Neixiang "listened to the wind and rain in the northwest, birds and animals sang, and the earthquake thundered."

In Qingyang County, Gansu Province, "the cliff collapsed and tens of thousands of people were killed or injured in the cave." Pingliang, Gansu, "A dozen people died in the city, but a few died in the mountain settlements". In Yonghe County, Shanxi Province, many people died in the cave.

Near Tongguan (the old city), during the earthquake, "many mountains collapsed, Tongguan Road diverged, and (the Yellow River) went against the current". Because the landslide blocked the Yellow River, the river flowed back to the Weihe River.

The earthquake also caused the Weihe River to move more than five kilometers to the north.

In Weinan county, people live in harmony with the north of the street. "From the county to the west, it is more than one foot" and "the north and south of the middle street are trapped by one or two feet".

Including Huaxian, Huayin, Dali, Tongguan and other counties, almost all kinds of buildings collapsed within 2000 square kilometers. Huaxian County is "blocked without feet".

The Purple Microscope in Dali County and Taibaichi in the southwest of Chaoyi are lakes and swamps with considerable areas. The lake dried up after the earthquake.