In this article we have collected the strongest earthquakes in the history of mankind, which have become catastrophes of a universal scale.
Annually experts fix about 500 000 tremors. All of them have different strength, but only a few of them are real tangible and cause damage, and the units have a strong destructive force.
1. Chile, 22 May 1960
One of the most terrible earthquakes occurred in 1960 in Chile. Its magnitude was 9.5 points. Victims of this natural phenomenon were 1655 people, more than 3,000 were injured of varying severity, and 2 million were left homeless! Experts estimated that the damage from it amounted to 550 000 000 $. But other than this, this earthquake caused a tsunami that reached the Hawaiian Islands and killed 61 people.
2. Tien-Shan, July 28, 1976
The magnitude of the earthquake in Tien Shan was 8.2 points. This terrible accident, according to the official version, claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people, and unofficial sources are announced at 700,000. And this may indeed be true, because during the earthquake, 5.6 million structures were completely destroyed.
3. Alaska, March 28, 1964
This earthquake caused 131 deaths. Of course, this is not enough if compared with other cataclysms. But the magnitude of the tremors that day was 9.2 points, which resulted in the destruction of almost all the buildings, and the damage caused amounted to $ 2,300,000,000 (adjusted for inflation).
4. Chile, 27 February 2010
This is another devastating earthquake in Chile that caused considerable damage to the city: millions of destroyed houses, dozens of flooded settlements, broken bridges and freeways. But the most important thing is that about 1,000 people were killed, 1,200 people were missing, and 1.5 million homes were damaged in varying degrees. Its magnitude was 8.8 points. According to the estimates of the Chilean authorities, the damage amount is more than $ 15,000,000,000.
5. Sumatra, 26 December 2004
The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.1 points. Mass earthquakes and the tsunami that followed them killed more than 227,000 people. Almost all the houses in the city were level with the land. In addition to the huge number of affected local residents, more than 9,000 foreign tourists who spent their holidays in the regions affected by the tsunami were killed or missing.
6. Honshu Island, March 11, 2011
The earthquake that arose on the island of Honshu, shook the entire eastern coast of Japan. In just 6 minutes of the 9-point catastrophe, more than 100 km of the seabed was raised to an 8-meter height and hit the northern islands. Even the Fukushima nuclear power plant was partially damaged, which provoked a radioactive release. The authorities officially stated that the number of victims is 15,000, local residents say that these figures are greatly understated.
7. Neftegorsk, May 28, 1995
The earthquake in Neftegorsk was a magnitude of 7.6 points. It completely destroyed the village in just 17 seconds! In the territory that fell into the disaster area, 55,400 people lived. Of these, 2040 died and 3197 were left without a roof over their heads. Neftegorsk was not being restored. The affected people were relocated to other settlements.
8. Alma-Ata, January 4, 1911
This earthquake is more known as Kemin, because its epicenter fell on the valley of the Great Kemin River. It is the strongest in the history of Kazakhstan. A characteristic feature of this catastrophe was the long duration of the phase of destructive oscillations. As a result, the city of Almaty was almost completely destroyed, and in the region of the river huge discontinuities of the relief formed, the total length of which was 200 km. In some places in the breaks were buried entirely at home.
9. The Province of Kanto, September 1, 1923
This earthquake began on September 1, 1923 and lasted 2 days! In total during this time, 356 tremors occurred in this province of Japan, the first of which were the strongest - the magnitude reached 8.3 points. Due to the change in the position of the seabed, it caused 12-meter tsunami waves. As a result of numerous earthquakes, 11,000 buildings were destroyed, fires started and a strong wind quickly spread fire. As a result, 59 buildings and 360 bridges burned. The official death toll was 174,000 and 542,000 people were reported missing. Over 1 million people were left homeless.
10. The Himalayas, August 15, 1950
There was an earthquake in the highland part of Tibet. Its magnitude was 8.6 points, and the energy corresponded to the force of the explosion of 100,000 atomic bombs. Stories of eyewitnesses about this tragedy terrified - a deafening roar erupted from the bowels of the earth, subterranean oscillations caused seizures in people, and cars were thrown at a distance of 800 m. One of the sections of the railway cloth fell to the ground at 5 m. The victims were 1530 person, but the damage from the disaster amounted to $ 20,000,000.
11. Haiti, 12 January 2010
The force of the main shock of this earthquake was 7.1 points, but after it followed a series of repeated oscillations, the magnitude of which was 5 or more points. Because of this disaster, 220,000 people died and 300,000 were injured. More than 1 million people lost their homes. The material damage from this catastrophe is estimated at 5 600 000 000 euros.
12. San Francisco, April 18, 1906
The magnitude of the surface waves of this earthquake was 7.7 points. The tremors were felt all over California. The most terrible thing is that they provoked the emergence of a huge fire, because of which almost the entire center of San Francisco was destroyed. The list of victims of the disaster included more than 3,000 people. Half of the population of San Francisco lost its housing.
13. Messina, December 28, 1908
It was one of the biggest earthquakes in Europe. It struck Sicily and southern Italy, killing about 120,000 people. The main epicenter of the tremors, the city of Messina, was actually destroyed. This 7.5-point earthquake was followed by a tsunami that hit the entire coast. The death toll was more than 150,000 people.
14. Haiyuan Province, December 16, 1920
This earthquake was effective at 7.8 points. It destroyed almost all houses in the cities of Lanzhou, Taiyuan and Xian. More than 230,000 people died. Witnesses claimed that waves from the earthquake were visible even off the coast of Norway.
15. Kobe, 17 January 1995
This is one of the most powerful earthquakes in Japan. His strength was 7.2 points. The destructive force of the impact of this catastrophe was experienced by a significant part of the population of this densely populated region. A total of more than 5,000 people were killed and 26,000 were injured. A huge number of buildings were level with the ground. The US Geological Survey estimated all damages of $ 200,000,000.