20 largest earthquakes !!

lima , peru

Oct 20, 1687

20 October 1687: A magnitude-8.5 quake in Lima, Peru destroyed much of the city.

chile

Jul 8, 1730

8 July 1730: A magnitude-8.7 quake in Valparasio, Chile, killed at least 3,000 people.

portugal

Nov 1, 1755

1 november 1755: A magnitude-8.7 quake and ensuing tsunami in Lisbon, Portugal, killed an estimated 60,000 people and destroyed much of Lisbon

new madrid, missouri

Jan 23, 1812

This sequence of three very large earthquakes is usually referred to as the New Madrid earthquakes, after the Missouri town that was the largest settlement on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Natchez, Mississippi. On the basis of the large area of damage (600,000 square kilometers), the widespread area of perceptibility (5,000,000 square kilometers), and the complex physiographic changes that occurred, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 rank as some of the largest

valdivia chile

Nov 7, 1837

7 november 1837: A magnitude-8.5 magnitude quake in Valdivia, Chile, generated a tsunami that killed at least 58 people in Hawaii.

hawaii

Apr 3, 1868

This major earthquake caused 77 deaths (tsunami, 46; landslide, 31). It knocked almost all wooden houses off their foundations in the Keiawa, Punaluu, and Ninole areas. In those areas, straw houses supported by posts in the ground reportedly were "torn to shreds." At Kau, the more substantial houses and every stone wall were thrown down. At Waiohinu, a large stone church collapsed within 10 seconds of the onset of shaking. The shock "ruined" the few stone buildings in Hilo and shook down almost

arica peru , (now chile )

Aug 13, 1868

13 august 1868: A magnitude-9.0 quake in Arica, Peru, (now Chile) generated catastrophic tsunamis; more than 25,000 people were killed in South America.

japan

Jun 15, 1896

15 june 1896: A magnitude-8.5 quake in Sanriku, Japan, caused a tsunami that killed at least 22,000 people.

ecuador

Jan 31, 1906

31 january 1906: A magnitude-8.8 quake off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia generated a tsunami that killed at least 500 people.

pleasant valley, nevada

Oct 3, 1915

The 1915 Pleasant Valley, Nev., earthquake of October 15, 1915, created a series of spectacular normal-fault scarps in the central Nevada seismic zone of the Basin and Range province ( Figure 6.11 and Figure 6.12). Four major scarps formed during the earthquake, with an aggregate length of 59 km, and reruptured Holocene scarps at the base of the mountain blocks (Wallace, 1984). Fault movement in the earthquake appears to have been purely dip slip and averaged about 2 m on the steeply dipping fau

chile-argentina

Nov 11, 1922

11 november 1922: A magnitude-8.5 quake on the Chile-Argentina border killed several hundred people.

west of lompoc, california

Nov 4, 1927

The Lompoc earthquake (MS = 7.3) of November 4, 1927, which was originally located 80 km west of Point Arguello, has been relocated much closer to the coast of central California near Point Sal. P-wave arrival times at regional and teleseismic distances are used to determine the epicenter at 34.9°N, 120.7°W near the Hosgri fault, with a 52-km major axis for the 95 per cent confidence ellipse. This location is in close agreement with arrival times of several phases at seismographs located at Berk

tibet

Aug 15, 1950

15 August 1950: A magnitude-8.6 earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people

hebgen lake , montana

Aug 18, 1950

This earthquake caused 28 fatalities and about $11 million in damage to highways and timber. It is characterized by extensive fault scarps, subsidence and uplift, a massive landslide, and a seiche in Hebgen Lake. A maximum MM intensity X was assigned to the fault scarps in the epicentral area. The instrumental epicenter lies within the region of surface faulting. Area of perceptibility, maximum intensity, and Richter magnitude all were larger for this earthquake than for any earlier earthquake

Dixie Valley, Nevada

Dec 16, 1954

The population was sparse in the epicentral region of this earthquake, and few man-made structures existed. Damage to structures, therefore, was minor despite the geologic and seismographic evidence of a major earthquake. The earthquake was accompanied by offsets along many faults in the four main zones of a north-trending belt 96 kilometers long by 32 kilometers wide. Minor geologic effects included changes in the flow of springs and wells, formation of craters and water fountains, landslips

earthquake in southern Chile

May 22, 1960

In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 quake struck Chile. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded and caused a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.

south-central Chile - magnitude 9.5

May 22, 1960

Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.

Alaska,

Mar 27, 1964

This great earthquake and ensuing tsunami took 128 lives (tsunami 113, earthquake 15), and caused about $311 million in property loss. Earthquake effects were heavy in many towns, including Anchorage, Chitina, Glennallen, Homer, Hope, Kasilof, Kenai, Kodiak, Moose Pass, Portage, Seldovia, Seward, Sterling, Valdez, Wasilla, and Whittier.

Borah Peak, Idaho

Oct 28, 1983

The Borah Peak earthquake is the largest ever recorded in Idaho - both in terms of magnitude and in amount of property damage. It caused two deaths in Challis, about 200 kilometers northeast of Boise, and an estimated $12.5 million in damage in the Challis-Mackay area. A maximum MM intensity IX was assigned to this earthquake on the basis of surface faulting. Vibrational damage to structure was assigned intensities in the VI to VII range.

indonesia

Dec 26, 2004

26 december 2004: A magnitude-9.0 quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 226,000 people in 12 countries, including 165,700 in Indonesia and 35,400 in Sri Lanka