Where did the Shaanxi earthquake happen?
The Shaanxi earthquake’s epicenter was actually in the Wei River Valley in the Shaanxi Province, near the cities of Huaxian, Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the tens of thousands. It was a similar situation in Weinan and Huayin. In some places, 20-metre (66 ft) deep crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death was everywhere, affecting places as far as 500 kilometres (310 mi) away from the epicenter. The earthquake also triggered landslides , which contributed to the massive death toll. The rupture occurred during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty. Therefore, in Chinese historical record, this earthquake is often referred as the Jiajing Great Earthquake. Modern estimates, based on geological data, give the earthquake a magnitude of approximately 8 on the moment magnitude scale or XI on the Mercalli scale. While it was the most deadly e
