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Earthquakes

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Alaska Earthquake March 27, 1964, Tsunami Damage Along The Waterfront At Kodiak

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1964 Alaska Earthquake

The Earthquake Strikes At 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964—Good Friday—the earth trembled just as many Alaskans were sitting down to dinner. Eyewitnesses described hearing a crunching, grinding noise as the earth shook. They recalled seeing asphalt roads rise and fall like waves and the ground opening and closing before them, water shooting up through […]

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Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake October 17, 1989, Structures Damaged In The Marina District Of San Francisco, The First Story Of This Three-Story Building Was Damaged Because Of Liquefaction; The Second Story Collapsed, What Is Seen Is The Third Story.

San Francisco Earthquake of 1989

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, the death toll was relatively […]

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1994 Northridge earthquake

Northridge Earthquake: January 17, 1994 Damage was widespread, as buildings, shopping centers, parking lots and portions of major freeways all collapsed. At least 57 people perished, while thousands more were injured. At the Northridge Meadows apartment complex, 16 people were killed, all of whom lived on the first floor, when the three-story, stucco-and-wood structure fell […]

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1999 Taiwan earthquake

On September 21, 1999, an earthquake in Taiwan killed more than 2,400 people, destroyed or damaged thousands of buildings and left an estimated 100,000 people homeless. It was the worst earthquake to hit Taiwan–where quakes are common due to its location in a seismically active zone of the Pacific basin—since a 1935 tremor that killed […]

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Stories


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Why It Took Two Earthquakes for San Francisco to Finally Build Smarter

The city learned from its past as it looked to the future.

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A shattered road after an earthquake.

The Deadliest Earthquake Ever Recorded

Estimates say it killed 830,000 people.

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alaska earthquake

The Great Alaska Earthquake, 50 Years Ago

Look back at the 9.2-magnitude earthquake, the largest ever recorded in North America, which shook Alaska 50 years ago.

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This Day in History

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2015

Magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills thousands in Nepal

Natural Disasters & Environment
2010

Massive earthquake strikes Haiti

Natural Disasters & Environment
1976

One of the worst earthquakes in modern history destroys Chinese city

Natural Disasters & Environment
1908

Worst European earthquake ever recorded

Natural Disasters & Environment
1964

Earthquake rocks Alaska

Natural Disasters & Environment
1906

The Great San Francisco Earthquake topples buildings, killing thousands

Natural Disasters & Environment
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