Qualla: 1975 Haicheng earthquake https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:39 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: 1975 Haicheng earthquake https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake 1975 Haicheng earthquake: Introduction https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. At 7:36 on the evening of February 4, 1975, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the city of Haicheng in Liaoning province. Buildings collapsed, infrastructure shattered, and the ground shook hard enough to register on instruments in Seoul and Tokyo. But most of Haicheng's residents were not inside their homes. Hours earlier, Chinese officials had ordered an evacuation based on a series of foreshocks that had been intensifying for days. It was the first -- and remains the only -- time in history that a major earthquake was predicted with enough lead time to save a city.

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/wxr2-1975-haicheng-earthquake-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full 1975 Haicheng earthquake: Five Years of Watching https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The prediction did not begin on the day of the earthquake. It began in 1970, after a series of large earthquakes from 1966 to 1969 prompted a national meeting to assess where the next major seismic threat lay. Scientists concluded that the pattern was migrating northeast, and tha...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/wxr2-1975-haicheng-earthquake-five-years-of-watching.mp3 0:06 2 full 1975 Haicheng earthquake: The Foreshocks Spoke https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. By June 1974, four years of data collection led to a refined prediction: the earthquake would likely occur within two years in the northern Bohai Gulf. Microearthquake activity was increasing. Leveling surveys showed ground deformation. Then, in the days before February 4, 1975, ...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/wxr2-1975-haicheng-earthquake-the-foreshocks-spoke.mp3 0:06 3 full 1975 Haicheng earthquake: The Cold After the Shaking https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The earthquake struck in the dead of a Manchurian winter. With a Modified Mercalli Intensity of IX at the epicenter, the damage was catastrophic: buildings collapsed across Haicheng, infrastructure was destroyed, and the cold compounded the suffering. Three hundred seventy-two pe...

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Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/wxr2-1975-haicheng-earthquake-the-cold-after-the-shaking.mp3 0:06 4 full 1975 Haicheng earthquake: The Shadow of Tangshan https://qualla.com/1975-haicheng-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Haicheng prediction's legacy was complicated just eighteen months later. On July 28, 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Tangshan, 500 kilometers to the southwest, killing over 240,000 people. None of the foreshock patterns, ground deformation signals, or other precursors...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/x/r/2/1975-haicheng-earthquake-wp/wxr2-1975-haicheng-earthquake-the-shadow-of-tangshan.mp3 0:06 5 full