On February 4, 1975 at 19:36 CST, an earthquake of Ms 7.5 and intensity (MMI) IX hit the city of Haicheng, Liaoning, China. Much of the city was evacuated before the earthquake, so few died from building collapse, however, many died from fire and hypothermia in the subsequent days. The evacuees lived during the deep winter in self-made tents made of tree branches, bed sheets, tarps and straw, 372 froze to death and 6,578 suffered frostbite, while a fire burned 341 to death and 980 suffered non-fatal burns. The fire was one of the most notable earthquake-induced fires in China, triggered from a combination of cooking, winter heating and lighting.

The early evacuation ordered by Chinese officials had been questioned to whether it was a scientific earthquake prediction or a fluke. The prediction was based mainly on the pronounced foreshock sequence. None of the precursors observed in this earthquake were observed in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed over 240,000. This prediction was later put under heavy scrutiny and was deemed as a fluke.