In January 2010, the Suining Ms5.0 earthquake occurred in central Sichuan Basin, with the epicenter in Moxi-Longnvsi structural belt and a focal depth of 10 km. Based on structural interpretations of seismic profiles in this area, we recognized a regional detachment fault located at a depth of 9–10 km in the Presinian basement of the Suining area, transferring its slipping from NW to SE orientation. This detachment fault slipped from NW to SE, and underwent several shears and bends, which caused the basement to be rolled in and the overlaying strata fold deformation. It formed a fault-bend fold in the Moxi area with an approximate slip of 4 km. Correspondingly, the formation of the Moxi anticline is related to the detachment fault. With the earthquake’s epicenter on the ramp of the detachment fault, there is a new point of view that the Suining earthquake was caused by re-activation of this basement detachment fault. Since the Late Jurassic period, under the influence of regional tectonic stress, the detachment fault transfered its slip from the Longmen Mountains (LMS) thrust belt to the hinterland of the Sichuan Basin, and finally to the piedmont zone of southwest Huayingshan (HYS), which indicates that HYS might be the final front area of the LMS thrust belt.