Recent Natural Disasters | Calamities | Hazards

Q: How did the Tangshan earthquake happen? A: The Tangshan earthquake happened due to tectonic forces generated by the Amurian tectonic plate interacting with the Eurasian tectonic plate.  The 1976 Tangshan earthquake occurred near a vertical right-lateral strike-slip fault sliding about three meters to the southwest.  The Tangshan earthquake which occurred in 1976 had magnitude of 7.6 located around Tangshan, Hebei, People's Republic of China. Related Post:  How did the 2014 Ludian earthquake happen?

Q:  How did the Ludian earthquake happen? A: The Ludian earthquake happened due to the movement along the Baogunao-Xiaohe fault (left lateral strike-slip) system. The 2014 Ludian earthquake quake was the result of a strike-slip fault, whose fault plane has a southwest-northeast strike.  The Ludian earthquake was of magnitude 6.1 which struck Ludian County, Yunnan, China on 3 August 2014.

July 21, 2020: District Administration Office of Sindhupalchowk has issued a notice warning that Kerung Tso Lake situated at Khasha in China might burst and cause floods in the Bhotekoshi River. The people living near the banks of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality and Barhabise Rural Municipality have been asked to relocate to higher areas following potential outburst of Kerung Tso lake in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. Chinese authorities have already started relocating their citizens to upper parts in view of the potential threats of the lake outburst.

June 18, 2020: At least 63 people have been killed or are missing as rainfalls continue to batter southern parts of China, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. Torrential downpours unleashed floods, mudslides and landslides in various parts of south China. Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces as well as Chongqing municipality  are some of the hardest hit provinces. About 228,000 people have had to seek emergency shelter due to the disaster in China since June 2, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

June 14, 2020: Tropical Cyclone Nuri made landfall in southern China on Sunday morning becoming the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in China this year. According to the Chinese Meteorological Administration, Tropical Cyclone Nuri landed on Hailing Island in Yangjiang City at about 8:50am (00:50 GMT) on Sunday. Nuri landed as a tropical storm, packing winds of 82.8km/h (51.4 mph) near its centre. Guangdong had launched the Level IV emergency response (lowest on scale) on Friday evening as Nuri developed in the South China Sea. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, as of 11am today, Tropical Cyclone Nuri was about 260km west-southwest of the city and was expected to move northwest and weaken gradually. Tropical Storm Nuri (Butchoy) was formed on the eastern coast of the Philippines. Nuri is the second storm of the typhoon season in the West Pacific.

May 18, 2020: A moderate earthquake of magnitude 5.0 has struck Qiaojia County in southwest China's Yunnan Province late Monday. At least four people have been killed and others 24 others have been injured. According to the Xinhua News Agency , the Yunnan provincial disaster reduction committee office and the provincial emergency response department have launched a level-four response for the disaster relief and sent a working group to the disaster area to assist and guide the earthquake relief work.

April 5, 2020: A video is viral today showing a massive earthquake damage in China. The China earthquake video is viral on social medias like facebook and twitter. But it's not the video of earthquake in China today. It's totally rumour that the earthquake has rattled China today. We have received huge traffic on our website searching for China earthquake 2020 around 8:10 am UTC. Most of the visitors are from New Zealand. We have checked the official government sites and other international seismological sites, but there is no information of any major earthquake in China today.

February 2, 2020: A moderate earthquake of magnitude 5.2 has been felt in Chengdu today at 12:05 am midnight. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake's epicenter was located 46 km far from Chendu, Sichuan, China . The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 9 km. Light tremor of MMI IV has been felt by the people of Dawan, Chengdu and Huayang. No damage or injuries have been reported from the earthquake in Chengu today. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake claimed lives of at least 87,000 and was the 18th deadliest earthquake of all time. The earthquake's epicenter was located 80 km west-northwest of Chengdu.

January 20, 2020: A total of 909 people have been killed by natural disasters in China in 2019, with about 130 million more people adversely impacted. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, natural disasters in China caused about 47.5 billion U.S. dollars direct economic losses in 2019. China was hit mainly by floods, typhoons, drought and earthquakes in 2019. However, the overall impact of natural disasters in China in 2019 was smaller than the average for the past five years, with lesser death toll as well. Global natural disaster losses in 2019 Meanwhile, more than 11,000 were killed in natural disaster events in 2019. Total economic losses from natural and man-made catastrophes fell to around USD 140 billion in 2019 from USD 176 billion last year. Click for detail report on 2019 global natural disaster losses  

This list contains all major natural disasters in China in 2020 with detail report. Click for most recent natural disasters in China Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: Powered by FeedBurner

December 15, 2019: Four miners have been killed and 14 others remained trapped underground in a flooded coal mine in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Xinhua News Agency reported. The coal mine floodin g occurred at  in Gongxian County of Yibin City in southwest China's Sichuan Province as 347 people were working underground. The rescue officers are clearing the shaft and drilling a deep hole to reach the trapped miners.  The disaster occurred at the Shanmushu coal mine owned by Sichuan Coal Industry Group.

October 16, 2019: An orange alert for drought has been issued in the east China's Jiangxi Province as a response to decreasing precipitation. According to the Xinhua , the average precipitation in the province stood at 96 mm from late July to early October, about 70% less than the average in the previous years. In Shanxi province, the Ministries of finance and emergency management has allocated an emergency funding of about 10.2 million U.S. dollars for drought relief. Main Post: Recent Natural Disasters List October 17, 2019

June 18, 2019: Twelve people have been died and 125 others have been injured after a 6.0 magnitude rattled hit Changning County of Yibin, China at 10:55 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), Xinhua reported. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the area was hit by a series of at least four aftershocks, the largest of which had a magnitude of 5.1. China's Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) has activated an emergency response Tuesday morning. A special work team has been sent to the disaster-stricken areas to provide guidance in disaster relief. An early warning alarm system was triggered in the provincial capital Chengdu about one minute before the earthquake struck, Xinhua said.

April 27, 2017: China is planning to launch a new type of agriculture insurance to compensate crop yield losses resulting from natural disasters in about 200 counties. According to The State Council , the counties will be chosen from China’s 13 major grain production provinces including Hebei, Heilongjiang, Anhui and Henan. The insurance will be offered to family farms, large scale growers and farmers’ cooperatives, covering the costs of agricultural materials, fertilizers, and land use fees for planting rice, wheat and corn.

Typhoon Sarika forecast path (Hong Kong Observatory) Severe Typhoon Sarika (Typhoon Karen in Philippines) is forecast to make landfall in Hainan, China on Tuesday. Authorities in Hainan Province held an emergency meeting Sunday night to review precautionary measures, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Typhoon Megi triggers flooding in east China's coastal city (CCTV Plus) September 29, 2016: Typhoon Megi (Typhoon Helen in Philippines) has claimed lives of a least five people and caused damage worth $31.9 million. At least four died across Taiwan, while more 625 others have been injured by the disaster. The typhoon left at least one person dead in China.

Torrential rain and floods have claimed lives of at least 130 people and left 110 others missing in Hebei Province of China by Saturday. According to the Xinhua News Agency , more than 9.04 million people have been affected by the floods.  The water supply in the urban areas of Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, has also been disrupted after flood water was found to have contaminated the city's drinking water.

Tornado damage in China's Jiangsu Province (Xinhua/Cai Yang) A violent tornado in Jiangsu province of China has claimed lives of at least 99 people and injured 846 others. The China Meteorological Administration ranked the tornado as an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with maximum sustained winds greater than 266 km/h which hit along the outskirts of Yancheng around 2:30 p.m. local time on June 23, 2016. EF-4 is the second strongest rating for tornadoes.

The heaviest rainfall in more than 200 years hit a city in south China's Guangdong Province claiming lives of at least eight people. Xinyi received 429.5 millimeters of rainfall in just six hours, Xinhua News Agency reported quoting the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Three moderate earthquakes have been recorded in the western Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region on Sunday morning May 22, 2016. The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) has recorded two moderate earthquakes in less than 20 minutes in Xinzang region. Magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurred at 09:48 am at 10 km depth. It was followed by another moderate earthquake with magnitude 5.3 at a shallower depth of 6 km in the same region.