281 km SSE of Dunhuang, China

46 days ago

USGS

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 281 km SSE of Dunhuang, China on 16 Sept 2026, 05:52 UTC. The hypocentre was 10.5 km below the surface — shallow by seismological convention. No felt reports have been received so far. 1 other earthquake above our reporting threshold has been recorded within 250 km in the past 30 days.

Depth: 10.5 km
Latitude: 37.71°N
Time: 05:52 UTC
Magnitude: M5.0

EPICENTRE

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 5.0

Can damage poorly constructed buildings; well-built structures usually escape with little harm.

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 32 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, roughly the energy of 477 tonnes of TNT.

10.5 KM DEEP

Shallow earthquakes release their energy close to the surface, so they are felt more strongly, and do more damage, than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude.