The Shaanxi earthquake hold the notorius title of being the deadliest of all time. Considering it happened nearly 450 years ago, the memory of the aftermath remained strong over the course of history. Centered in China's central Shaanxi province, the 1556 quake took around 830,000 lives. The massive death toll was a result from several factors. The quake's strength is estimated near 8.0 on the Richter scale, which had a devastating effect on the location in question. In the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, most of the population at the time lived in Yaodongs, artificial caves built in cliffs. Many collapsed unable to withstand a quake of such force and massive landslides resullted in great loss of life. An area some 500 miles wide was wiped out, affecting more than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui. In some counties more than 60% of the population was killed.
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