The Haicheng evacuation is the only known successful mass evacuation before an earthquake, preventing an estimated 150,000 deaths.
Key Facts
- Magnitude
- Ms 7.5
- Intensity (MMI)
- IX
- Date and time
- February 4, 1975, 19:36 CST
- Deaths prevented (est.)
- Up to 150,000
- Location
- Haicheng, Liaoning, China
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In the days and hours before the earthquake, Chinese seismologists and officials observed a pronounced foreshock sequence and other precursory signals. Acting on these observations, local authorities ordered a large-scale evacuation of Haicheng and surrounding areas before the main shock struck.
On February 4, 1975, at 19:36 CST, a magnitude Ms 7.5 earthquake with MMI intensity IX struck Haicheng, Liaoning, China. Because authorities had already evacuated much of the population, the city was largely empty when the earthquake caused widespread structural destruction.
The evacuation is estimated to have prevented up to 150,000 deaths, though some residents died in subsequent days from fire and hypothermia. The event became the only recorded instance of a successful pre-earthquake mass evacuation, though its precursors were absent in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000.