Diexi Earthquake of 1933

The 1933 Diexi earthquake occurred in Diexi, Mao County, Sichuan, Republic of China on August 25, 1933.

This earthquake destroyed the town of Diexi and surrounding villages, and caused many landslides, and killed about 9,000 people. The old town of Diexi sank into the landslide dam-created Diexi Lake.

On Aug 25, 1933 an earhquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale destroyed Diexi, a county situated by the side of Ming River, the longest branch of Yangtze River. The whole county collapsed and was buried in rocks. Later a huge lake came into being.

The closest large earthquake to the Longmen Shan fault zone in recent years was the 1933 Diexi earthquake, which occurred along the Minjiang fault—about 100 km to the west. That quake destroyed the town of Diexi, caused many landslides, and killed about 9,000 people.