The biggest earthquakes in history

1906: The magnitude 7.8 earthquake in California, San Francisco, USA killed 3,000 people.

1908: The magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked Messina, Italy, killing 25,926 people.

1923: The scene is devastated after the magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, killing 142,800 people.

1936: The ruined scene after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Quetta, Pakistan, killed 35,000 people.

1939: The 8.3-magnitude strong earthquake in Concepcion, Chile killed 28,000 people.


1939: More than 36,700 people were killed in the magnitude 8.0 earthquake in Erzincan, Turkey.

1970: The Chimbote earthquake, strong 7.7 in Peru has caused 67,000 deaths.

1976: The magnitude 8.0 earthquake in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, China, claimed the lives of 290,000 people.

1976: Housing was destroyed during the magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Guatemala City, Guatemala, leaving 22,084 people dead.

1985: The ruined scene in Mexico's capital Mexico City after an 8.1-magnitude quake hit 10,000 people.

1995: The powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan's Kobe city, killing nearly 6,350 people.

1999: The 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Kocaeli, Turkey claimed 19,118 lives.

2004: A 9.2 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed 230,000 people.

2008: Sichuan Province, China was shaken by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, killing 68,000 people.

2010: The 8.8-magnitude earthquake in the Maule, Chile region makes nearly 500 people dead.


2010: The 7.0-magnitude quake in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince has claimed 316,000 lives.

2011: A 9.0-magnitude strong earthquake in northeastern Japan accompanied by tsunamis that killed 15,854 people and 3,271 others still missing