23 January 1556, a massive earthquake with a magnitude estimated between 7 and 8 struck Shaanxi, China, resulting in the tragic loss of upwards of 830,000 lives. The quake hit late in the evening, when most people were at home, leading to widespread destruction as homes were buried by landslides and collapsed structures.

This devastating extensional earthquake occurred in the Wei River Valley, part of the Weihe-Shanxi Rift system. Faults in the region indicate that vertical movement of up to 25 feet might have occurred during the tremor or multiple quakes.

The Wei River Valley is also renowned for its extensive loess deposits—glacially created windblown silt and fine sand—that have shaped the landscape into a series of terraces and rolling hills. In the 16th century, local inhabitants carved out caves, known as yaodongs, in these loess deposits for shelters. Tragically, during the earthquake, these caves and above-ground shelters collapsed, burying most of the inhabitants alive.

Source: Shaanxi Earthquake by Smith, 2021, Nature World News. Graphic: Loess Landscape Near Shanxi, China by Till Niermann, public domain.