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Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)
This earthquake's magnitude was 9 and about 20,000 people died. Waves crossed the Atlantic ocean. The amplitude of the heights was 7 meters or more in the West Indies. The violent shaking that came with this earthquake completely destroyed public buildings and about 12,000 dwellings. -
Krakatoa Eruption (Java/Sumatra)
The volcanic activity here is due to subduction of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate as it moved north ward toward mainland Asia. With a magnitude of 6 this earthquake killed over 36,000 people died and 165 villages were destroyed. This earthquake caused the top of the volcano to collapse into the ocean. -
Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)
The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and it was produced in the Hawaiian islands and killed around 160 people. Unimak Island was hit by the tsunami shortly after the earthquake. -
Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)
The United States Geological Survey reports this earthquake in Chile as "the largest earthquake in the 20th century." This earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5 and 61 died in Hawaii after traveling across the Pacific Ocean for 15 hours. -
Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)
In California and Alaska, this earthquake killed around 130 people and had a magnitude of 9.2. This earthquake caused the greatest amount of vertical uplift ever measured. Uplift is an area pushed upward from its original position. The shaking lasted 4 minutes. Movement of the ocean floor was the cause of this destructive earthquake. -
Hokkaido Earthquake (Japan)
This earthquake occurred in the sea of Japan, it then caused the tsunami that killed 120 on the island of Okushiri. Its magnitude was 7.8. 558 houses were damaged and there were $600 million in property losses caused by this tsunami. -
Papua New Guinea Quake (Papua New Guinea)
The measured magnitude of this earthquake was 7.1. It also triggered a submarine landslide which then led to the tsumani. This earthquake also killed over 2,100. Without warning this tsunami struck and left 6,000 homeless and many missing. 713 were admitted to hospitals and 1,212 were buried. The final death toll will never be fully certain. -
Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)
With a magnitude of 9.1 this earthquake killed 230,000 people. It also ruptured the greatest fault length of any recorded earthquake with a distance of 900 miles, which is longer than California. -
Samoa Earthquake (Samoan Islands)
The magnitude of the earthquake in the Samoan Islands was 8.1 and it killed about 200. This earthquake caused significant damage and loss of life on Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. -
Chile Earthquake (Chile)
This earthquake killed 700 people in coastal towns and had a magnitude of 8.8. 1 million people had to be evacuated from their homes. -
Tohoku Earthquake (Japan)
This deadly earthquake killed over 20,000 and had a magnitude of 9.1. It struck offshore of Japan, along a subduction zone where two of earths tectonic plates collided.
