China has had perhaps the largest number of casualties of earthquakes of any country on Earth.
The numbers are a real eye-opener. The U.S.G.S. list of significant earthquakes & casualties in China's history tells a chilling story, over & over, through the centuries.
See
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/...ntry.php#china
The Tangshan quake of 1976 left 255,000 dead officially (more accurate numbers are hard to get from the Chinese government). However, the unofficial estimated death toll from this quake is about 650,000. This is by far the highest number of fatalities from a single earthquake of the 20th century.
And going way back to the year 1556, when an approximate magnitude 8 quake struck Shensi, it's quite possible that more than ONE MILLION people died.
Incidentally, today's quake in China -- a magnitude 7.9 -- was the size of the largest quake ever recorded in the continental United States (Fort Tejon quake in 1857). It's about as big as a quake can be anywhere on dry land. Larger quakes (so-called "great quakes") require much longer faults, & the longer faults are found only in the world's subduction zones, virtually all of which lie under the ocean.
Seismologists say, "Earthquakes don't kill people; buildings kill people." It sounds like a pat little phrase, but it's true. My guess is the vast majority of today's casualties in China are from falling stones & bricks in unreinforced buildings.