Historically Significant Earthquakes

Date

Location

Deaths

Magnitude

Comments

January 23, 1556	China, Shaanxi Province	830,000	~8
July 27, 1976	China, Tangshan	255,000	7.5	Estimated death toll as high as 655,000
August 9, 1138	Syria, Aleppo (Halab)	230,000
December 26, 2004	Indian Ocean, near Sumatra, Indonesia	227,898	9.1	Deaths largely from resulting tsunami
December 22, AD 856	Iran, Dāmghān	200,000
December 16, 1920	Haiyuan, Ningxia (Ning-hsia), China	200,000	7.8	Major fractures, landslides
March 23, AD 893	Iran, Ardabīl	150,000
September 1, 1923	Japan, Kantō-heiya	142,800	7.9	Great Tokyo fire
October 5, 1948	USSR (Turkmenistan, Ashgabat)	110,000	7.3
September 27, 1290	China, Chihli	100,000
October 8, 2005	Northern Pakistan (Muzaffarābād)	86,000	7.6
November, 1667	Caucasia (Azerbaijan), Şamaxı (Shemakha)	80,000
November 18, 1727	Iran, Tabrīz	77,000
December 28, 1908	Italy, Messina	72,000	7.2	Deaths from earthquake and tsunami
May 31, 1970	Chimbote, Peru	70,000	7.9	Great rock slide, floods
November 1, 1755	Portugal, Lisbon	70,000	8.7	Great tsunami
January 11, 1693	Italy, Sicily	60,000	7.5
1268	Asia Minor, Cilicia	60,000

Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Earthquake Information Center.

Location

Date

Magnitude

Prince William Sound, Alaska	March 28, 1964	9.2
Cascadia Subduction Zone	January 26, 1700	~9
Rat Islands, Alaska	February 4, 1965	8.7
Andreanof Islands, Alaska	March 9, 1957	8.6
East of Shumagin Islands, Alaska	November 10, 1938	8.2
Unimak Islands, Alaska	April 1, 1946	8.1
New Madrid, Missouri	December 16, 1811	8.1
Yakutat Bay, Alaska	September 10, 1899	8.0
New Madrid, Missouri	February 7, 1812	~8
Denali Fault, Alaska	November 3, 2002	7.9
Gulf of Alaska, Alaska	November 30, 1987	7.9
Andreanof Islands, Alaska	May 7, 1986	7.9
Near Cape Yakataga, Alaska	September 4, 1899	7.9
Ka'u District, Island of Hawaii	April 3, 1868	7.9
Fort Tejon, California	January 9, 1857	7.9
Rat Islands, Alaska	November 17, 2003	7.8
Andreanof Islands, Alaska	June 10, 1996	7.8
San Francisco, California	April 18, 1906	7.8
Imperial Valley, California	February 24, 1892	7.8
New Madrid, Missouri	January 23, 1812	7.8
Widely differing magnitudes have been computed for some of these earthquakes; the values differ according to the methods and data used.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center.

Location

Date

Magnitude

Temuco-Valdivia, Chile	May 22, 1960	9.5
Prince William Sound, Alaska	March 28, 1964	9.2
Indian Ocean, near Sumatra, Indonesia	December 26, 2004	9.1
Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia	November 4, 1952	9.0
Off the coast of Ecuador	January 31, 1906	8.8
Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska	February 4, 1965	8.7
Northern Sumatra, Indonesia	March 28, 2005	8.6
Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska	March 9, 1957	8.6
Assam-Tibet (India-China border)	August 15, 1950	8.6
Banda Sea, Indonesia	February 1, 1938	8.5
Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia	February 3, 1923	8.5
Kuril Islands	October 15, 1963	8.5
Chile-Argentina Border	November 11, 1922	8.5

Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS),
National Earthquake Information Center.

Location

Date

Magnitude

Cascadia Subduction Zone	January 26, 1700	~9
New Madrid, Missouri	December 16, 1811	8.1
New Madrid, Missouri	February 7, 1812	~8
Fort Tejon, California	January 9, 1857	7.9
San Francisco, California	April 18, 1906	7.8
Imperial Valley, California	February 24, 1892	7.8
New Madrid, Missouri	January 23, 1812	7.8
Owens Valley, California	March 26, 1872	7.4
Landers, California	June 28, 1992	7.3
Hebgen Lake, Montana	August 18, 1959	7.3
Kern County, California	July 21, 1952	7.3
West of Eureka, California	January 31, 1922	7.3
Charleston, South Carolina	September 1, 1886	7.3
California-Oregon Coast	November 23, 1873	7.3
North Cascades, Washington	December 15, 1872	7.3
Widely differing magnitudes have been computed for some of these earthquakes; the values differ according to the methods and data used.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center.

Date

Location

Deaths

Magnitude

Comments

Apr. 19, 1902	Quezaltenango and San Marcos, Guatemala	2,000	7.5
Dec. 16, 1902	Turkestan	4,700	6.4
Apr. 28, 1903	Malazgirt, Turkey	3,500	7.0
May 28, 1903	Gole, Turkey	1,000	5.8
Apr. 4, 1905	Kangra, India	19,000	7.5
Jan. 31, 1906	Off coast of Esmeraldas, Ecuador	1,000	8.8
Mar. 16, 1906	Chia-i, Taiwan	1,250	6.8
April 18, 1906	San Francisco, California	~3,000	7.8	Majority of deaths from resulting fires.
Aug. 17, 1906	Valparaiso, Chile	20,000	8.2
Jan. 14, 1907	Kingston, Jamaica	800 to 1,000	6.5
Oct. 21, 1907	Qaratog (Karatag), Tajikistan (Turkestan, Russia)	12,000	8.0
Dec. 28, 1908	Messina, Italy	72,000	7.2	Deaths from earthquake and tsunami.
Jan. 23, 1909	Silakhor, Iran	5,000 to 6,000	7.3
Aug. 9, 1912	Murefte, Turkey	2,800	7.4
Oct. 3, 1914	Burdur, Turkey	4,000	7.0
Jan. 13, 1915	Avezzano, Italy	32,610	7.0
Jan. 20, 1917	Bali, Indonesia	1,500
July 30, 1917	North of Daguan, Yunnan, China	1,800	7.5
Feb. 13, 1918	Nan'ao, Guangdong (Kwangtung), China	1,000	7.4
Dec. 16, 1920	Haiyuan, Ningxia (Ning-hsia), China	200,000	7.8	Major fractures, landslides.
Mar. 24, 1923	Near Luhuo, Sichuan (Szechwan), China	3,500	7.3
May 25, 1923	Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Iran (Persia)	2,200	5.7
Sep. 1, 1923	Kanto (Kwanto), Japan	142,800	7.9	Great Tokyo fire.
Mar. 16, 1925	Yunnan, China	5,800	7.0	Talifu almost completely destroyed.
Mar. 7, 1927	Tango, Japan	3,020	7.6
May 22, 1927	Gulang, Gansu (Kansu), China	40,900	7.6	Reports of as many as 200,000 killed.
May 1, 1929	Koppeh Dagh, Iran (Persia)	3,800	7.2
May 6, 1930	Salmas, Iran (Persia)	2,500	7.2
July 23, 1930	Irpinia, Italy	1,400	6.5
Mar. 31, 1931	Managua, Nicaragua	2,500	6.0
Apr. 27, 1931	Zangezur Mountains, Armenia-Azerbaijan border	2,800	5.7
Aug. 10, 1931	Near Fuyun (Koktokay), Xinjiang (Sinkiang), China	10,000	8.0
Mar. 2, 1933	Sanriku, Japan	3,000	8.4
Aug. 25, 1933	Sichuan, China	9,300	7.5
Jan. 15, 1934	Bihar, India-Nepal	10,700	8.1
Apr. 20, 1935	Miao-li, Taiwan	3,270	7.1
May 30, 1935	Quetta, Pakistan	30,000	7.6	Quetta almost completely destroyed.
July 16, 1935	Hsin-chu, Taiwan	2,740	6.5
Jan. 25, 1939	Chillan, Chile	28,000	7.8
Dec. 26, 1939	Erzincan, Turkey	32,700	7.8
Nov. 10, 1940	Vrancea, Romania	1,000	7.3
Dec. 20, 1942	Erbaa, Turkey	1,100	7.3
Sep. 10, 1943	Tottori, Japan	1,190	7.4
Nov. 26, 1943	Ladik, Turkey	4,000	7.6
Jan. 15, 1944	San Juan, Argentina	8,000	7.4
Feb. 1, 1944	Gerede, Turkey	2,790	7.4	Reports of as many as 5,000 killed.
Jan. 12, 1945	Mikawa, Japan	1,961	7.1
Nov. 27, 1945	Makran Coast, Pakistan	4,000	8.0
May 31, 1946	Ustukran, Turkey	840 to 1,300	5.9
Nov. 10, 1946	Ancash, Peru	1,400	7.3	Landslides, great destruction.
Dec. 20, 1946	Nankaido, Japan	1,362	8.1
June 28, 1948	Fukui, Japan	3,769	7.3
Oct. 5, 1948	USSR (Turkmenistan, Ashgabat)	110,000	7.3
July 10, 1949	Khait, Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan, USSR)	12,000	7.5
Aug. 5, 1949	Ambato, Ecuador	5,050	6.8	Large landslides, topographical changes.
Aug. 15, 1950	Assam-Tibet (India-China border)	1,526	8.6	Great topographical changes, landslides, floods.
Aug. 2, 1951	Cosiguina, Nicaragua	1,000	5.8
Mar. 18, 1953	Yenice-Gonen, Turkey	1,070	7.3
Sep. 9, 1954	Orleansville, Algeria	1,250	6.8
July 2, 1957	Near Sang Chai, Mazandaran, Iran	1,200	7.1
Dec. 13, 1957	Sahneh, Iran	1,130	7.1
Feb. 29, 1960	Agadir, Morocco	12,000 to 15,000	5.7	Occurred at shallow depth just under city.
May 22, 1960	Temuco-Valdivia, Chile	1,655	9.5	Tsunami, volcanic activity, floods. Estimated death toll as high as 5,700.
Sep. 1, 1962	Qazvin, Iran	12,225	7.1
July 26, 1963	Skopje, Yugoslavia	1,100	6.0	Occurred at shallow depth just under city.
Mar. 7, 1966	East of Longyao, Hebei (Hopeh), China	1,000	7.0
Mar. 22, 1966	Hebei (Hopeh), China	1,000	6.9
Aug. 19, 1966	Varto, Turkey	2,529	6.8
Aug. 31, 1968	Dasht-e Bayaz, Iran	7,000 to 12,000	7.3
July 25, 1969	Yangjiang, Guangdong, China	3,000	5.9
Jan. 4, 1970	Yunnan Province, China	10,000	7.5
Mar. 28, 1970	Gediz, Turkey	1,086	6.9
May 31, 1970	Chimbote, Peru	70,000	7.9	Massive rock slide, floods.
May 22, 1971	Turkey	1,000	6.9
Apr. 10, 1972	Southern Iran	5,054	7.1
Dec. 23, 1972	Managua, Nicaragua	5,000	6.2
May 10, 1974	China	20,000	6.8
Dec. 28, 1974	Pakistan	5,300	6.2
Feb. 4, 1975	Haicheng, China	2,000	7.0
Sep. 6, 1975	Turkey	2,300	6.7
Feb. 4, 1976	Guatemala	23,000	7.5
May 6, 1976	Northeastern Italy	1,000	6.5
July 27, 1976	Tangshan, China	255,000	7.5	Estimated death toll as high as 655,000.
Aug. 16, 1976	Mindanao, Philippines	8,000	7.9
Nov. 24, 1976	Turkey-Iran border region	5,000	7.3
Mar. 4, 1977	Romania	1,500	7.2
Sep. 16, 1978	Iran	15,000	7.8
Oct. 10, 1980	El Asnam, Algeria	5,000	7.7
Nov. 23, 1980	Southern Italy	3,000	6.5
June 11, 1981	Southern Iran	3,000	6.9
July 28, 1981	Southern Iran	1,500	7.3
Dec. 13, 1982	Yemen	2,800	6.0
Oct. 30, 1983	Turkey	1,342	6.9
Sep. 19, 1985	Michoacán, Mexico	9,500 (official)	8.0	Estimated death toll as high as 30,000.
Oct. 10, 1986	El Salvador	1,000	5.5
Mar. 6, 1987	Colombia-Ecuador	1,000	7.0
Aug. 20, 1988	Nepal-India border region	1,000	6.8
Dec. 7, 1988	Spitak, Armenia	25,000	6.8
June 20, 1990	Western Iran	40,000 to 50,000	7.4	Landslides.
July 16, 1990	Luzon, Philippine Islands	1,621	7.7	Landslides, subsidence, and sandblows.
Oct. 19, 1991	Northern India	2,000	7.0
Dec. 12, 1992	Flores Region, Indonesia	2,500	7.5	Tsunami ran inland 300 meters; wave height 25 meters.
Sep. 29, 1993	Latur-Killari, India	9,748	6.2
Jan. 16, 1995	Kobe, Japan	5,502	6.9	Landslide, liquefaction.
May 27, 1995	Sakhalin Island	1,989	7.5
May 10, 1997	Northern Iran	1,567	7.3	4,460 injured, 60,000 homeless.
Feb. 04, 1998	Hindu Kush region, Afghanistan	2,323	5.9	818 injured, 8,094 houses destroyed, 6,725 livestock killed.
May 30, 1998	Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region	4,000	6.6	Many thousands injured and homeless.
July 17, 1998	Papua New Guinea	2,183	7.0	Thousands injured, about 9,500 homeless, and about 500 missing as a result of a tsunami with maximum wave heights estimated at 10 meters.
Jan. 25, 1999	Colombia	1,185	6.1	Over 700 missing and presumed killed, over 4,750 injured, and about 250,000 homeless.
Aug. 17, 1999	Turkey	17,118	7.6	At least 50,000 injured, thousands homeless. Damage estimate at U.S.$3 billion to $6.5 billion.
Sep. 20, 1999	Taiwan	2,400	7.6	Over 8,700 injured, over 600,000 homeless. Damage estimate at U.S.$14 billion.
Jan. 26, 2001	Gujarat, India	20,085	7.6	166,836 injured, 600,000 homeless.
Mar. 25, 2002	Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan	1,000	6.1	4,000 injured, 1,500 houses destroyed in the Nahrin area. Approximately 20,000 people homeless.
May 2, 2003	Northern Algeria	2,266	6.8	10,261 injured, 150,000 homeless.
Dec. 26, 2003	Southeastern Iran	31,000	6.6	30,000 injured, 85% of buildings damaged or destroyed in Bam area.
Dec. 26, 2004	Sumatra	227,898	9.1	The tsunami caused by the earthquake resulted in more casualties than any other in recorded history.
Mar. 28, 2005	Northern Sumatra, Indonesia	1,313	8.6
Oct. 8, 2005	Pakistan	86,000	7.6	69,000 injured and an estimated 2.5 million people left homeless.
May 26, 2006	Indonesia	5,749	6.3

Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS),
National Earthquake Information Center.

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