This list is biased towards recent years due to development and widespread deployment of seismometers. Also, records that were detailed enough to make magnitude estimates (est.) were not generally available before 1900.[2]
| Date |
Location |
Name |
Magnitude |
| 01960-05-22May 22, 1960 |
Valdivia, Chile |
1960 Valdivia earthquake |
9.5 |
| 01964-03-27March 27, 1964 |
Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA |
1964 Alaska earthquake |
9.2 |
| 02004-12-26December 26, 2004 |
Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia |
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake |
9.1–9.3 |
| 01952-11-04November 4, 1952 |
Kamchatka, Russia (then USSR) |
1952 Kamchatka earthquakes |
9.0[3] |
| 02011-03-11March 11, 2011 |
Pacific Ocean, Tōhoku region, Japan |
2011 Tōhoku earthquake |
9.0[4][5][6] |
| 01615-09-16September 16, 1615 |
Arica, Chile (then part of the Spanish Empire) |
1615 Arica earthquake |
8.8 (est.) |
| 01833-11-25November 25, 1833 |
Sumatra, Indonesia |
1833 Sumatra earthquake |
8.8–9.2 (est.) |
| 01906-01-31January 31, 1906 |
Ecuador – Colombia |
1906 Ecuador-Colombia earthquake |
8.8 |
| 02010-02-27February 27, 2010 |
Maule, Chile |
2010 Chile earthquake |
8.8 |
| 01700-01-26January 26, 1700 |
Pacific Ocean, USA and Canada |
1700 Cascadia earthquake |
8.7–9.2 (est.)[7] |
| 01730-07-08July 8, 1730 |
Valparaiso, Chile |
1730 Valparaiso earthquake |
8.7 (est.)[8] |
| 01755-11-01November 1, 1755 |
Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon, Portugal |
1755 Lisbon earthquake |
8.7 (est.)[9] |
| 01965-02-04February 4, 1965 |
Rat Islands, Alaska, USA |
1965 Rat Islands earthquake |
8.7 |
| 00869-07-09July 9, 869 |
Pacific Ocean, Tōhoku region, Japan |
869 Sanriku earthquake |
8.6-9.0 (est.) |
| 01498-09-20September 20, 1498 |
Pacific Ocean, Nankai Trough, Japan |
1498 Meiō Nankaidō earthquake |
8.6 (est.) |
| 01707-10-28October 28, 1707 |
Pacific Ocean, Shikoku region, Japan |
1707 Hōei earthquake |
8.6 (est.) |
| 01950-08-15August 15, 1950 |
Assam, India – Tibet, China |
1950 Assam - Tibet earthquake |
8.6 |
| 01957-03-09March 9, 1957 |
Andreanof Islands, Alaska, USA |
1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake |
8.6 |
| 01946-04-01April 1, 1946 |
Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA |
1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake |
8.6 |
| 02005-03-28March 28, 2005 |
Sumatra, Indonesia |
2005 Sumatra earthquake |
8.6 |
| 02012-04-11April 11, 2012 |
Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia |
2012 Aceh earthquake |
8.6 |
| 01575-12-16December 16, 1575 |
Valdivia, Chile (then part of the Spanish Empire) |
1575 Valdivia earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01604-11-24November 24, 1604 |
Arica, Chile (then part of the Spanish Empire) |
1604 Arica earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01647-05-13May 13, 1647 |
Santiago, Chile (then part of the Spanish Empire) |
1647 Santiago earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01687-10-20October 20, 1687 |
Lima, Peru (Viceroyalty of Peru) |
1687 Peru earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01751-05-24May 24, 1751 |
Concepción, Chile (Kingdom of Chile) |
1751 Concepción earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01822-11-19November 19, 1822 |
Valparaíso, Chile |
1822 Valparaíso earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01835-02-20February 20, 1835 |
Concepción, Chile |
1835 Concepción earthquake |
8.5 (est.) |
| 01868-08-13August 13, 1868 |
Arica, Chile (then Peru) |
1868 Arica earthquake |
8.5–9.0 (est.)[10] |
| 01877-05-09May 9, 1877 |
Iquique, Chile (then Peru) |
1877 Iquique earthquake |
8.5-9.0 (est.) |
| 01922-11-10November 10, 1922 |
Atacama Region, Chile |
1922 Vallenar earthquake |
8.5[11] |
| 01923-02-03February 3, 1923 |
Kamchatka, Russia (USSR) |
1923 Kamchatka earthquakes |
8.5[12] |
| 01938-02-01February 1, 1938 |
Banda Sea, Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) |
1938 Banda Sea earthquake |
8.5 |
| 01963-10-13October 13, 1963 |
Kuril Islands, Russia (USSR) |
1963 Kuril Islands earthquake |
8.5[12] |
| 02007-09-12September 12, 2007 |
Sumatra, Indonesia |
2007 Sumatra earthquakes |
8.5 |
Deadliest earthquakes[13]
| Rank |
Name |
Date |
Location |
Fatalities |
Magnitude |
Notes |
| 1 |
"Shaanxi" |
01556-01-23January 23, 1556 |
Shaanxi, China |
820,000–830,000 (est.)[14] |
8.0 (est.) |
Estimated death toll in Shaanxi, China. |
| 2 |
"Haiti" |
02010-01-12January 12, 2010 |
Haiti |
316,000 (Haitian sources)
50,000–92,000 (non-Haitian sources) |
7.0 |
Estimate June 2010.[15] |
| 3 |
"Haiyuan" |
01920-12-16December 16, 1920 |
Ningxia–Gansu, China |
273,400[16][17] |
7.8 |
Major fractures, landslides. |
| 4 |
"Tangshan" |
01976-07-28July 28, 1976 |
Hebei, China |
242,769[18][19] |
7.8 |
|
| 5 |
"Antioch" |
00526-05-21May 21, 526 |
Antioch, Turkey (then Byzantine Empire) |
240,000[20] |
7.0 (est.)[21] |
Procopius (II.14.6), sources based on John of Ephesus. |
| 6 |
"Indian Ocean" |
02004-12-26December 26, 2004 |
Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia |
230,210+[22][23] |
9.1–9.3 |
Deaths from earthquake and resulting tsunami. |
| 7 |
"Aleppo" |
01138-10-11October 11, 1138 |
Aleppo, Syria |
230,000 |
Unknown |
The figure of 230,000 dead is based on a historical conflation of this earthquake with earthquakes in November 1137 on the Jazira plain and the large seismic event of September 30, 1139 in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja. The first mention of a 230,000 death toll was by Ibn Taghribirdi in the fifteenth century.[24] |
| 8 |
"Damghan" |
00856-12-22December 22, 856 |
Damghan, Iran |
200,000 (est.) |
7.9 (est.) |
|
| 9 |
"Ardabil" |
00893-03-22March 22, 893 |
Ardabil, Iran |
150,000 (est.) |
Unknown |
Reports probably relate to the 893 Dvin earthquake, due to misreading of the Arabic word for Dvin, 'Dabil' as 'Ardabil'.[25] This is regarded as a 'fake earthquake'.[26] |
| 10 |
"Great Kantō" |
01923-09-01September 1, 1923 |
Kantō region, Japan |
142,800[27] |
7.9 |
An earthquake which struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58 on the morning of September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes. The quake had an epicenter deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region.[28] The power and intensity of the earthquake is easy to underestimate, but the 1923 earthquake managed to move the 93-ton Great Buddha statue at Kamakura. The statue slid forward almost two feet.[29] Casualty estimates range from about 100,000 to 142,800 deaths, the latter figure including approximately 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. |
| 11 |
"Messina" |
01908-12-28December 28, 1908 |
Messina, Italy |
123,000[30] |
7.1 |
On December 28, 1908 from about 5:20 to 5:21 am an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred centered on Messina, a city in Sicily. Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland also suffered heavy damage. The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds, and the destruction was felt within a 300 km radius. Moments after the earthquake, a 40 feet (12 m) tsunami struck nearby coasts causing even more devastation. 93% of structures in Messina were destroyed and some 70,000 residents were killed. Rescuers searched through the rubble for weeks, and whole families were still being pulled out alive days later, but thousands remained buried there. Buildings in the area had not been constructed for earthquake resistance, having heavy roofs and vulnerable foundations. |
| 12 |
"Ashgabat" |
01948-10-06October 6, 1948 |
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan |
110,000 |
7.3 |
|
| 13 |
"Genroku" |
01703-12-31December 31, 1703 |
Edo, Japan |
108,800[citation needed] |
Unknown |
This earthquake shook Edo and killed an estimated 2,300 people. The earthquake is thought to have been an interplate earthquake whose focal region extended from Sagami Bay to the tip of the Bōsō Peninsula as well as the area along the Sagami Trough in the open sea southeast of the Boso Peninsula. This earthquake then resulted in a tsunami which hit the coastal areas of the Boso Peninsula and Sagami Bay. This caused more than 6,500 deaths, particularly on the Boso Peninsula. The Habu Pond on Izu Ōshima collapsed and it rushed into the sea. The tsunami was reported to have caused more than 100,000 fatalities.[citation needed] |
| 14 |
"Lisbon" |
01755-11-01November 1, 1755 |
Lisbon, Portugal |
10,000–100,000 |
8.5–9.0 (est.) |
Includes several thousands of deaths in Morocco and Spain |