Some of the Most Powerful Earthquakes in 100 years

Japan isn’t the first place to have earthquakes, and here are some shots of earthquakes that rocked our world in the past.

April 18, 1906, San Francisco : At 5:12 am in San Francisco there was a major earthquake, whose magnitude was 7.8 on the Richter scale. Tremors were felt even in the middle of Nevada, located deep in the continent. As a result of the disaster, almost 80% of the buildings in the city of San Francisco was destroyed, their homes were 300 000, 3000 – died.

December 28, 1908, Messina, Italy : Epicenter of the earthquake with magnitude 7.5 points located in the strait between Sicily and the peninsula. As a result of this earthquake, which is considered the most powerful European earthquake, were almost completely destroyed the city of Messina and Reggio Calabria. In Messina lost almost half of the residents. The total number of victims is estimated at 70 -100 000 people (some sources name the figure to 200 thousand).

September 1, 1923, Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan : This earthquake of magnitude 8.3 points still called the Great Kanto earthquake, as the Japanese Kanto province most affected by the strike element. For two days there was 356 aftershocks, and the height of the tsunami in Sagami Bay has reached 12 meters. The death toll in the disaster is estimated at 142,800 people.

1936, Quetta, Pakistan : The earthquake completely destroyed the city’s infrastructure, the death toll to nearly 40,000 people, with damage estimated at U.S. $ 25 million.

1939, Concepcion, Chile : Magnitude quake was 8.3 points. Killed 28 000 people, the damage amounted to nearly $ 100 million.

December 26, 1939 Erzincan, Turkey : The city routinely had to endure the powerful earthquake. In 1939, the element has claimed the lives of 36 to 39 thousand people.

February 29, 1960, Agadir, Morocco : An earthquake measuring 5.9 points only lasted 15 seconds, but the death toll was 15,000 people, injured 12,000, 35,000 were left homeless.

1970, Chimbote, Peru : An earthquake measuring 7.7 points seriously damaged the fishing industry enterprises, which caused unemployment and impoverishment of the population for several years. At the time of the earthquake killed 67,000 people, with damage estimated at $ 550 million.

July 27, 1976, Tien Shan, China : This earthquake of magnitude 8.2 in the score is considered one of the largest by number of victims in the history of observations. Then the element has claimed more than 650,000 lives.

February 4, 1976, Guatemala : The earthquake of magnitude 7.5 stars died more than 22 thousand people, and 70,000 were injured. Damage estimated at 1.1 billion dollars.

September 19, 1985 Mexico City, Mexico : This earthquake of magnitude 8.1 score is considered one of the most devastating earthquakes of America. The number of dead was then 9,000 people and injured were 30,000 and 100,000 were left homeless.

December 7, 1988, Spitak, Armenia : Magnitude of a catastrophic Spitak earthquake was 7.2 magnitude. The city of Spitak and 58 villages were completely destroyed. The number of dead reached 25 thousand and 514 thousand were left homeless. Damage was estimated at 14 billion dollars.

October 17, 1989, San Francisco, California, USA : Earthquake, magnitude of which was 7.1 magnitude, occurred just before the baseball game “World Series”, so in the U.S., this earthquake is also called the “earthquake World Series.” In comparison with other earthquake victims was not much: 68 people. Tremors were completely destroyed by a network of roads, and the overall material damage estimated at $ 6 billion.

January 17, 1995, Kobe, Japan : Magnitude quake was 7.3 points. Killed 6,434 people, damage totaled $ 200 million.

August 17, 1999, Izmit, Turkey : Magnitude 7.6 points, the number of victims amounted to 17,217 people, more than 43 thousand were injured. The earthquake triggered a fire at the refinery on fire which took several days. The total damage amounted to $ 25 billion.

December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean : The magnitude was 9.1 points. The earthquake occurred most lethal in modern history, the tsunami that killed nearly 300 000 people. The horrific earthquake changed the Earth’s rotation rate, because of what knocks have become shorter in 2.68 microseconds.

May 12, 2008, Sichuan, China : Magnitude was 8 points. Echoes of this earthquake were felt even in Russia. The number of dead reached 68 thousand people, the damage – 20 billion dollars.

February 27, 2010, Maule Region, Chile : Magnitude of a powerful earthquake in Chile was 8.8 points, the total number of dead had reached almost 800 people. The earthquake occurred tsunami, which reached even to Australia.

March 11, 2011, The island of Honshu, Japan : Magnitude to 9.1 magnitude – is the most powerful earthquake in Japan on record. March 14, official sources reported nearly 5000 dead, but this figure is not final.