关键词: 历史地震核查, 岳阳地震, 华县地震, 缺失原则

Abstract: In 1556, a strong earthquake with magnitude 8¹/₄ occurred in Huaxian, Shaanxi Province. The earthquake destroyed many places in Shaanxi Province and its adjacent regions, and also affected above 100 counties in Gansu Province, Hebei Province, Shandong Province and etc. According to historical documents, an earthquake was also recorded in Yueyang district, about 700km away from the Huaxian earthquake epicenter on the same day. Was it an isolated event or influenced by the Huaxian earthquake? It is a controversial problem.A lot of historical earthquake records of Yueyang district and its adjacent regions have been collected and studied, including the border area between Hunan Province and Hubei Province. The records for the 1556 AD Yueyang earthquake in “Annals of Yuezhou” in Longqing time of Ming Dynasty were judged to be more accurate than other historical documents. Earthquake recorded in 1556 AD in Yueyang district was a felt event with less strength. In analyzing historical materials, two principles for cases of earthquake records lacking have to be adopted: 1)Local annals to be used shall have other earthquake records. That means the annals writers paid attention to earthquake events; 2)Other types of disasters were recorded in the period of time when the earthquake occurred. That means there were no other kinds of historical disaster events influencing the records of earthquake.There were no earthquake records in counties like Tongshan, Tongchen, Puxi, Chongyang, Gongan, Shishou in the 34th year of Jiajing reign (1556 AD). It can be concluded that the earthquake records in Yueyang district in 1556 were not the effect of the Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi Province in the same year. It was an isolated event. At last, according to records of local annals, the earthquake epicenter and magnitude are determined.

Key words: historical earthquake review, Yueyang earthquake, Huaxian earthquake, principle of earthquake records lacking