The Jiajing Earthquake of 1556 (Episode 6)

In Episode 6, we talk about the third-deadliest natural disaster of all time: the massive earthquake that occurred in Shaanxi, China, during the Ming Dynasty. We'll cover why it occurred, what exactly happened, and what was going on with the Jiajing Emperor at the time, as well bonus sidebars on soil liquefaction, royal scandals, where to find loess, and why you wouldn't want to be in a yaodong during an earthquake (but, if you're Ella, why you might want to live in one during non-quake times).

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Sources for this episode include:

"A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters" by G. Eaton, 2011

"Historical Earthquakes in China" by G. Parraras-Caryannis, 2013, for Disaster Pages of Dr. George Parraras-Caryannis

and of course the Wikipedia articles on:

1556 Shaanxi Earthquake

Loess

Yaodong