Devastation was widespread throughout the area struck by the earthquake . In the nearby towns of Zhaocheng and Hongdong , every major temple and school building collapsed and over half the towns ' populations perished . Every building in Huo county , Shanxi was destroyed . In Taiyuan and Pingyang , nearly 100,000 houses collapsed and over 200,000 people died from collapsing buildings and loess caves in a similar manner to the situation that would be experienced 253 years later in the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake ( 陕西 ) . Cracks in the ground turned into miniature rivers , and many canals in Shanxi Province were destroyed , along with city walls . Some reports stated that the earthquake even leveled mountains and hills , altering the topographic makeup of the region . Landslides and soil subsidence and liquefaction triggered by the shaking were a likely root cause of these large-scale environmental changes . Rebuilding was generally slow , owing to the destroyed infrastructure of Shanxi and was interrupted by several other earthquakes in the following years
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
1303 Hongdong earthquake