How firms located in global value chains cope with disruptions of intermediate imports? We exploit the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate how import shocks result in transnational supply chains transfer. We find that intermediate goods importers are inclined to establish diversified supply chains after the supply chain disruption triggered by the Japanese earthquake, but these effects vary across heterogeneity in firms. Specifically, the phenomena of transnational supply chains transfers are more profound for foreign firms, ordinary trade firms, leader firms, imported intermediates only from Japan before Japanese earthquake as well as firms that are highly reliant on inputs import from Japan. Our further analysis shows that the supply chains transfers are characterized as proximity and regionalization, and firms can make full use of import information network constructed by trade intermediaries, importer agglomeration and trade connections to diversify their supply chains.