1920 Haiyuan Earthquake

On 16 December 1920, a magnitude 7.8–8.5 earthquake struck Haiyuan County in the Ningxia Province of China, killing an estimated 200,000 to 273,000 people — more than double the death toll of the 1908 Messina Earthquake. Entire mountains collapsed, dams broke, rivers were dammed by landslides, and hundreds of villages were buried in seconds. The earthquake triggered landslides across an area of 4,000 square kilometres, and aftershocks continued for three years. Remote location and harsh winter conditions severely hampered any relief effort, with survivors facing temperatures as low as -30°C in makeshift shelters.