THE WORST EARTHQUAKES IN HISTORY
Added on: 15th Oct 2015
VALDIVIA, CHILE
When it comes to the earthquake’s magnitude, the 1960 Valdivia
earthquake takes the cake at 9.5, which was equivalent to a
massive 178-Gigatons of power. This can be comparable to
1,000 atomic bombs going off at the same time. The earthquake
was not only felt in Valdivia but also reached Hawaii, at a distance
of 435 miles. While only 6,000 people died in the catastrophe, it
incurred more than $1 billion worth of damages.
SHAANXI, CHINA
This earthquake has sometimes been called the deadliest earthquake
In history. The incident happened on January 23, 1556 in Shaanxi,
China and devastated an area of 520 miles. It was felt in 97 countries;
and resulted in more than 20 metre deep crevices and landslides,
which collapsed numerous dwellings. The death toll of this
devastating earthquake was 830,000, which is over 60% of the
region’s population. Its magnitude was only 8.0 on the Richter scale or
only 1-Gigaton, but the costs cannot be written in today’s terms.
SUMATRA, INDONESIA
This earthquake hit the sea bed of the Indian Ocean on December
26, 2004 with a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3 or over 32-Gigatons, and
caused the Boxing Day Tsunami. This was the second highest
seismic activity recorded with the longest duration of tremors.
The after-effects even reached the Maldives and Thailand, with
more than 5 tsunamis hitting the coastlines of the Indian Sea.
It had a death toll of 100,000 to 225,000 with over $7 billion worth
of rescue and damage costs during the first 8.3 to 10 minutes alone.
ALEPPO, SYRIA
This disaster happened near the town of Aleppo in Syria on October 11,
1138. The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 8.5 or 2.8-Gigaton,
was labelled as the fourth worst earthquake disaster in the world.
Catastrophes included a nearby church that fell on itself causing the
death of 600 guards and citizens, with a total death toll of 230,000.
A number of towns near the tremor were completely destroyed and
had to be rebuilt to become habitable again.
TANGSHAN, CHINA
This tragedy happened on July 28, 1976 in Tangshan, Hebei and
killed 255,000 people though the Chinese government first recorded its
death toll at 655,000. The 8.2 magnitude or 2.2-Gigaton quake
only lasted for 10 seconds, but brought a lot of devastation to the area.
In addition, Tangshan is a region with a very low-risk for earthquakes,
so the buildings were not earthquake-proof. The quake was 4 miles long
and 5 miles wide, which left a total damage of 10 billion Yuan or $1.3 billion.
HAIYUAN COUNTY, CHINA
Also called ‘the 1920 Gansu Earthquake,’ this disaster happened in
Haiyuan County, Ningxia. Though there were conflicting reports on its
magnitude and death toll, as both the Chinese government and the
United States Geological Survey (USGS) published different reports,
it still brought catastrophic effects that were felt for over 125 miles
and aftershocks that lasted over 3 years. The December 16, 1920
quake has conflicting magnitudes of 7.8 and 8.5 and death tolls
of 200,000 or 240,000.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
The Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale, with an
epicentre near Leogane, 25 km west of its capital, Port-au-Prince.
It struck on January 12, 2010 where at least 52 aftershocks measuring
4.5 or greater could still be felt even 12 days later. The earthquake
left a devastating wake of 316,000 deaths, 300,000 injured and 1,000,000
people homeless. It was estimated that 250,000 houses and 30,000
commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely destroyed.
XINING, CHINA
Xining, which lies on the Huangshui River on the eastern part of
Quinghai Province, experienced a magnitude 7.9 seismic activity on
May 22, 1927. It killed 40,900 people though there were other reports
that the death toll could be as high as 200,000. The earthquake
was not only deadly but it also brought large fractures and damages
to over 500 schools and office buildings causing many people to lose
their occupations. This was also linked to the Great Gansu Earthquake.
DAMGHAN, IRAN
The earliest record-breaking earthquake as it happened on December
22, 856, this earthquake struck Damghan, the capital of Iran at that
time with a magnitude of 8.0 or 1-Gigaton power. It killed 200,000 people,
with tremors that could be felt throughout the surrounding areas of
Damghan causing these areas to be totally destroyed as well, though
Damghan itself was not severely damaged. A great example was
Bustam, a nearby town, which was completely levelled by the quake.
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