Shaanxi Earthquake

January 23, 1556

Before dawn a catastrophic earthquake ripped through Shaanxi and neighboring provinces of Ming China. Loess cave-dwellings collapsed on their sleeping occupants. Contemporary estimates put the dead at over eight hundred thousand, making it the deadliest earthquake in recorded history. The enormous death toll was largely due to the region's distinctive loess cave dwellings, which collapsed on sleeping families in the early morning.