ObjectiveTo understand the levels of and influencing factors for knowledge of earthquake in the elderly population. MethodPeople who were older than 60 years in the earthquake area of Sichuan Province were surveyed by self-designed earthquake knowledge scale composed of 6 items with a point of 1-5 for each item between October and November 2013. The total score ranged from 6 to 30 points. ResultsUp to 1 509 elderly people participated the survey. The total score of earthquake knowledge was 13.33±4.85. The main resource for acquiring those knowledge was TV (76.87%). Occupation, education level, residency, marital status, residence, self-injury, health status, access to earthquake knowledge, and worrying about earthquake were related factors for their knowledge on earthquake (P<0.05). Regression analysis showed that the higher degree of education, having a spouse, living in city, more access to earthquake knowledge, worrying about earthquake were the promotion factors for earthquake knowledge preparedness. Self-injury, poor health were the factors that hindered the acquiring of earthquake knowledge preparedness. ConclusionsIt is necessary to train knowledge of earthquake for elderly people individually because they lack enough resources and tend to be affected by many factors.