The 1925 Dali earthquake occurred at 14:42
UTC on 16 March. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.0 on the
surface wave magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of at least IX (''Violent'') on the
Mercalli intensity scale
The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the ef ...
.
It had an
epicenter in the province of
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
in southern China and killed an estimated 5,000 people.
Tectonic setting
Yunnan lies in a tectonically complex zone affected by the broad zone of deformation associated with the ongoing
collision between the
Indian Plate
The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began ...
and the
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent an ...
. A rhomb-shaped fault-bounded block, known as the Sichuan-Yunnan Block, is recognised that is bounded by the
active left-lateral
strike-slip faults
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
of the
Xianshuihe fault system and the currently right lateral
Red River Fault and
Jinshajiang Fault.
Earthquake
The earthquake was caused by movement on the northwestern part of the
Red River Fault.
The area affected by shaking of at least intensity VII was nearly 5,000 square kilometres.
Damage
The city of
Dali was severely damaged. 76,000 homes were destroyed either by the shaking or subsequent fires. The city walls were badly affected, locally collapsing completely, with battlements devastated and two of the gate towers destroyed. 3,600 people were killed in the city, with a further 7,200 injured. 5,000 livestock were also killed.
In Fengyi, thousands of houses were destroyed and over 1,200 people died, with a further 550 injured. In
Midu County
Midu County () is a county in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in west-central Yunnan province, China.
Administrative divisions
Midu County has 6 towns, 1 township and 1 ethnic township.
;6 towns
;1 township
* Deju ()
;1 ethnic town ...
, 159 people died and 165 were injured. In
Binchuan County, over 800 people died and more than 500 were injured. There were also deaths in Dengchuan,
Xiangyun and
Weishan.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 1925
*
List of earthquakes in China
This is a List of earthquakes in China, part of the series of lists of disasters in China. China has been the location of some of the most deadly earthquakes in history. The deadliest was the 1976 Tangshan earthquake with 300,000+ deaths. Eart ...
*
List of earthquakes in Yunnan
This is a list of earthquakes that have occurred in or have affected Yunnan Province in China.
Major earthquakes (≥Magnitude 7.0)
Major earthquakes (Magnitude 6.0–6.9)
Moderately large earthquakes (≤Magnitude 5.9)
See also
* ...
*
2021 Dali earthquake
On May 21, 2021, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake strucked the Dali City, Yunnan, China, at a depth of 10.0 km. Three people died during the quake, while another 32 were injured. The earthquake was referred by the Chinese media as the 5.21 earthquake ...
References
External links
*
{{Earthquakes in China
Earthquakes in Yunnan
1925 earthquakes
March 1925 events
1925 in China
Geography of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture