On the evening of September 27, a rare earthquake occurred in Wuhan, China, despite later confirmation that the magnitude was only 1.6. The noticeable tremors caused panic among the people. Some even captured earthquake clouds appearing over Wuhan. Just 10 days prior, Feidong in the neighboring province of Anhui also experienced an earthquake, with aftershocks continuing until now.
Many residents of Wuhan felt the earthquake on the evening of September 27, as seen through various social media posts:
“It really was an earthquake. I felt the house shake for a moment.”
“Coordinates in Jiangxia District, sitting on the couch felt a push, scared me.”
“The villa roof was noticeably vibrating, scared me enough to run outside.”
“I felt it in Wuchang too.”
“Obvious tremor in Baishazhou.”
“I felt it in Hongshan as well.”
“Coordinates in Hankou, had a fever tonight lying in bed resting, felt the bed shake, my intuition from studying in Chengdu for four years told me it was an earthquake, checked the news later and indeed it was.”
The staff at the Hubei Provincial Seismological Bureau later confirmed that at 8:55 PM on September 27, a magnitude 1.6 earthquake occurred in the Jiangxia District of Wuhan (latitude 30.36 degrees, longitude 114.38 degrees) with a depth of 9 kilometers.
The news of the 1.6 magnitude earthquake in Wuhan quickly became a hot topic as many Wuhan residents expressed panic, stating that Wuhan is not typically known for earthquakes.
“Wuhan basically never has earthquakes.”
“Wuhan is not on a fault line, so an earthquake in Wuhan is a rare occurrence. I’m from Jiangxia District, on the 4th/6th floor, the tremors were very noticeable.”
“There haven’t been earthquakes in Wuhan for hundreds of years, not even 0.1 magnitude ones.”
“Wuhan is on a plain, not a mountainous plate, generally experiencing floods rather than earthquakes.”
Some Wuhan residents reported not receiving earthquake warning messages. The Hubei Provincial Seismological Bureau stated that this earthquake did not reach the warning level, as alerts are only sent for quakes of magnitude 2.0 and above.
According to the Hubei Daily, Wuhan is located at the junction of two major plates, with multiple fault lines and a history of destructive earthquakes, experiencing small tremors in recent years. The 1.6 magnitude earthquake in Jiangxia, Wuhan is categorized as a minor earthquake, with no earthquakes above magnitude 3 occurring in the surrounding area since 1970.
Some netizens posted videos claiming to capture “earthquake clouds” over Wuhan during the day on the 27th, which preceded the earthquake that night.
Furthermore, netizens reported seeing earthquake clouds in Wuhan on September 25 as well.
About 400 km away from Wuhan, Feidong in Anhui Province has been experiencing continuous aftershocks since the initial earthquake on September 18. Local authorities lifted the earthquake warning on the 24th, prohibiting people from sleeping on the streets for safety. Shortly after the alert was lifted, on the night of the 25th, Feidong experienced another earthquake of 3.8 magnitude, causing many to sleep outside in tents out of fear.
Netizens also captured blood-colored earthquake clouds on the day of the earthquake in Feidong on the 25th.
On September 27, while Wuhan experienced an earthquake, Feidong in Hefei continued to have aftershocks. By 9 PM, the official report confirmed four aftershocks on that day, each not exceeding a magnitude of 2.
In addition, on September 25, there was a 3.3 magnitude earthquake in Jinfeng District of Yinchuan, Ningxia, with a depth of 10 kilometers. On September 17, there was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake in Dabancheng District, Urumqi, Xinjiang.