On April 25, 2015 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake tore through Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 and injuring 16,800. It was the worst such earthquake for the Asian country since 1934. The earthquake struck shortly before noon, but the devastation continued as several dozen aftershocks ...read more
The 1964 Alaska earthquake, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America, struck Alaska’s Prince William Sound, about 74 miles southeast of Anchorage. Most of Alaska’s mainland felt the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, which wobbled Seattle’s Space Needle some 1,200 miles ...read more
San Francisco’s location along the San Andreas Fault means that the city is, and always will be, prone to earthquakes. But that doesn’t have to mean it’s prone to devastation. After major earthquakes in both 1906 and 1989, the city retained its status as one of America’s most ...read more
Humans have been recording earthquakes for nearly 4,000 years. From the ones we know about, the deadliest by far happened in China in 1556 A.D. On January 23 of that year, a powerful quake rocked the province of Shaanxi as well as the neighboring province of Shanxi, killing an ...read more
[slideshow]As the sunlight waned on March 27, 1964, Alaska’s frozen ground shivered violently. Periodic rumbles were nothing new to Alaskans—four out of every five U.S. earthquakes occur in the state—but the quake that struck at 5:36 p.m. local time on Good Friday was unlike any ...read more
On this day in 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastates the Caribbean island nation of Haiti. The quake, which was the strongest to strike the region in more than 200 years, left over 200,000 people dead and some 895,000 Haitians homeless. The earthquake hit southern Haiti at ...read more
One of the deadliest earthquakes in history hits the Gansu province of midwestern China, causing massive landslides and the deaths of an estimated 200,000 people. The earthquake, which measured 8.5 magnitude on the Richter scale, affected an area of some 25,000 square miles, ...read more
On this day in 2005, a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the Kashmir border region between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 people—nearly half of them children—were killed and 70,000 more were injured. More than 3 million were left homeless and without food and ...read more
At 3:42 a.m., an earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with a population of about one million people. As almost everyone was asleep in their beds, instead of outside in the relative safety of the ...read more
At dawn, the most destructive earthquake in recorded European history strikes the Straits of Messina in southern Italy, leveling the cities of Messina in Sicily and Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. The earthquake and tsunami it caused killed an estimated 100,000 ...read more
In the Mississippi River Valley near New Madrid, Missouri, the greatest series of earthquakes in U.S. history begins when a quake of an estimated 8.6 magnitude on the Richter scale slams the region. Although the earthquake greatly altered the topography of the region, the area ...read more
The strongest earthquake in American history, measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale, slams southern Alaska, creating a deadly tsunami. Some 125 people were killed and thousands injured. The massive earthquake had its epicenter in the Prince William Sound, about eight miles northeast ...read more
In the Soviet Union, an earthquake of a 6.9 magnitude on the Richter scale hits northwestern Armenia, affecting an area 50 miles in diameter. The initial earthquake was followed four minutes later by a powerful 5.8 magnitude aftershock. More than 20 towns and 342 villages were ...read more
Just after 3 a.m., an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale strikes northwestern Turkey, home to one-third of the country’s population and half its industry. The epicenter of the earthquake was Izmit, located 65 miles from Istanbul and on the North Anatolian fault line. ...read more
On October 17, 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages. Despite the fact that the disaster was one of the most powerful and destructive quakes ever to hit a populated area of the United States, ...read more
At 4:31 a.m. on January 17, 1994, a 6.7-magnitude quake struck the San Fernando Valley, a densely populated area of Los Angeles located 20 miles northwest of the city’s downtown. The quake was caused by the sudden rupture of a previously undocumented blind thrust fault. The ...read more
At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it topples numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves ...read more
A devastating earthquake begins to shake the city of San Francisco in the morning hours of this day in 1906. The first of two vicious tremors shook San Francisco at 5:13 a.m., and a second followed not long after. The quake was powerful enough to be recorded thousands of miles ...read more
“You ask me to say what I saw and what I did during the terrible days which witnessed the destruction of San Francisco? Well, there have been many accounts of my so-called adventures published in the American papers, and most of them have not been quite correct.” So began one of ...read more
Two of the strongest earthquakes ever to hit California strike the desert area east of Los Angeles on this day in 1992. Although the state sits upon the immense San Andreas fault line, relatively few major earthquakes have hit California in modern times. Two of the strongest, ...read more
An earthquake strikes Southern Italy on this day 1980, killing more than 3,000 people. The casualty toll was so high in part because the tremor struck during Sunday night mass, as many residents sat in churches that crumbled in the quake. The 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 7:34 ...read more
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake near Erzincan, Turkey, and an unusually powerful aftershock two days later kill at least 500 people and leave 50,000 people homeless. Erzincan was a provincial capital city of 90,000 people 600 miles east of Istanbul in Central Turkey. The people of ...read more
On this day in 1954, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Algeria, near Orleansville, killing 1,600 people. Another 5,000 people suffered serious injuries during the strong tremor and series of aftershocks that followed. The Cheliff River Valley features some of the best farmland ...read more
On this day in 1971, an earthquake sets off a series of calamities—a landslide, flood and avalanche–that results in the destruction of the town of Chungar, Peru, and the death of 600 of its inhabitants. Chungar was a mining camp in the Andes Mountains, where workers and their ...read more