Ten Most Powerful Earthquakes in History

            Modern recording of the magnitude of earthquakes did not begin until 1900, when seismometers began to be developed and widely deployed.  As such, many magnitudes are estimated based on records available from the time.  The currently used scale for measuring the severity of earthquakes is the Moment Magnitude Scale, which is exponential, recording magnitudes from 1.0 to 10.0.

1.     1960 Great Chilean Earthquake

Valdivia, Chile

May 22, 1960

Magnitude 9.5

2.     1964 Good Friday Earthquake

Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

March 27, 1964

Magnitude 9.2

3.     2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia

December 26, 2004

Magnitude 9.1

4.     1952 Kamchatka Earthquake

Kamchatka, Russia (then USSR)

November 4, 1952

Magnitude 9.0

5.     2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

Pacific Ocean, Tohoku Region, Japan

March 11, 2011

Magnitude 9.0

6.     1833 Sumatra Earthquake

Sumatra, Indonesia

November 25, 1833

Magnitude 8.8 (estimated)

7.     1906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake

Ecuador-Colombia

January 31, 1906

Magnitude 8.8

8.     2010 Chile Earthquake

Maule, Chile

February 27, 2010

Magnitude 8.8

9.     1700 Cascadia Earthquake

Pacific Ocean, USA and Canada

January 26, 1700

Magnitude 8.7 (estimated)

10.  1730 Valparaiso Earthquake

Valparaiso, Chile

July 8, 1730

Magnitude 8.7 (estimated)