The Deadliest Earthquake Ever Recorded

History Channel ^ | February 6, 2023 (original September 8, 2017) | Becky Little

[SunkenCiv]

Estimates say it killed 830,000 people.

Humans have documented earthquakes for nearly 4,000 years. Of those recorded, the deadliest occurred in China. On January 23, 1556, a powerful quake rocked the province of Shaanxi and the neighboring province of Shanxi, killing an estimated 830,000 people.

Historical records often refer to the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake as the Jiajing Great Earthquake because it occurred during Emperor Jiajing’s reign in the Ming dynasty. The approximate death toll comes from local annals that also tracked 26 earthquakes in the region. In those records, the earthquake is starkly different from others: they describe leveled mountains, floods, fires that burned for days and a drastically altered landscape. The annals estimated that some counties lost about 60 percent of their population.

Even though the death toll is in question, the Shaanxi earthquake is considered the deadliest earthquake because its casualties are much higher than any other disaster. (The second deadliest recorded earthquake next to Shaanxi was the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed an estimated 230,000 people across Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.)

[SunkenCiv]

The Gaziantep keyword, sorted:

• Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll likely to 'more than double', UN says [02/11/2023]
• In complete U-turn, US issues temporary sanctions waiver to allow aid for Syria [02/11/2023]
• Turkey earthquake opened 190-mile-long fissure, satellite images show [02/10/2023]
• Turkey-Syria earthquake: Thousands offer to adopt baby pulled from the rubble [02/09/2023]
• Rescuers of the DSNS went to Turkey to help eliminate the effects of a powerful earthquake. [02/08/2023]
• How did a seismologist predict the Turkey earthquake 3 days earlier? [02/08/2023]
• Turkey -- Syria earthquake: what scientists know [02/07/2023]
• Turkey-Syria earthquake: Newborn baby pulled from collapsed building [02/07/2023]
• Devastating: Earthquake In Turkey And Syria Brings Surging Death Toll; Over 7,000 People Dead [VIDEO] Feb 7, 2023 [02/07/2023]
• Erdogan declares state of emergency in Turkey, as death toll exceeds 5,000 [02/07/2023]
• World Cup star Christian Atsu feared to be trapped under earthquake rubble in Turkey [02/06/2023]
• "Great privilege to reach out to our neighbor': IDF aid delegation heads to Turkey [02/06/2023]
• Turkey and Syria remind us of the earth's power [02/06/2023]
• Turkey halts oil exports after earthquakes: Update [02/06/2023]
• Netanyahu: Turkey, Syria have asked for help [02/06/2023]
• SECOND mega earthquake hits Turkey, hours after record 7.8-magnitude tremor kills more than 1,700 people: 7.5 quake strikes as Turkey and Syria reel from overnight destruction that saw families crushed in their sleep [02/06/2023]
• Earthquake of magnitude 7.7 strikes Turkey - GFZ [02/05/2023]
• A HUGE Earthquake just hit Turkey. [02/05/2023]
• Very Strong earthquake - Turkey - January 24, 2020 [01/24/2020]
• US returns ancient Roman "gypsy girl" Zeugma mosaic to Turkey [11/26/2018]
• Ancient clay tablet has revealed locations of 11 'lost cities' from 4,000 years ago [11/22/2017]
• 'Be cheerful, live your life:' Ancient mosaic 'meme' found in Turkey's south [04/23/2016]
• FBI: Aurora teen arrested before heading to Syria to join 'jihadist militant' group [04/20/2013]

[SunkenCiv]

[DIRTYSECRET]

How many people in that region now? I’m waiting for Yellowstone to blow.

[BenLurkin]

Interesting.

[drSteve78]

Global warming, uhh, climate change.

[gibsonguy]

I’ve been hearing Yellowstone is “overdue” my whole life.

[Jet Jaguar]

Interesting.

[bitt]

P

[plain talk]

“I’ve been hearing Yellowstone is “overdue” my whole life.”

Not overdue yet but we only have a few data points and scant knowledge on this stuff.

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/yellowstone-overdue-eruption-when-will-yellowstone-erupt

[TangoLimaSierra]

I’ve been hearing Yellowstone is “overdue” my whole life.

Your great grandchildren will probably say the same thing.

[BenLurkin]

[vetvetdoug]

New Madrid, San Andreas, and Yellowstone are all overdue. What if they all went at once?

[volunbeer]

I was shocked to see the talking head (MSNBC I think?) attribute the earthquake to global warming.

Unreal. The stupid burns!

[protoconservative]

Yellowstone release energy every day like clockwork, if the boiling pots stopped for say 500 years would be concerned.
New Madrid has had large for what it earthquakes for at least 400 years. San Andreas, like its virtual city scape, is targeted at its worthless neighbors.

[alancarp]

The one I’m most concerned about is the Cascadia Subduction Zone. That could kill a lot of people in the Pacific NW.

[basalt]

Tang-Shaun in Northern China, 1976, was a nasty piece of work....over 250,000 dead i believe..

[crz]

Well, is you live another 10 to 15 thousand years or more, you might get lucky to see it.

[CletusVanDamme]

We could use another massive one in China now.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

And when it blows, goodbye North America - maybe all of the America’s.

It’ll be that big.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

You nail something I’ve been thinking about for awhile.

I can absolutely see that scenario play out.