Thursday, January 21, 2010

Top 3 Strongest Earthquakes ever recorded in History

3. Prince William Sound, Alaska U.S.A (March 27, 1964) – also known as the Great Alaska Earthquake or The Good Friday Earthquake as it occurs on Good Friday. The said earthquake recorded a magnitude 9.2 on a Richter scale. The quake began at 5:36 PM AST and lasted for 5 minutes. Estimated deaths of the quake were 131 including those who died in subsequent tsunamis in other parts of America. Estimated damage to properties was $300 million ($2.06 billion in current dollar). This earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in United States and in North American History.



2. 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (December 26, 2004) – also known in the scientific community as the Sumatra – Andaman earthquake. This destructive earthquake has a magnitude 9.3 on a Richter scale with the epicenter located at the west coast of Sumatra Indonesia. The earthquake lasted for 10 minutes, but enough to cause the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1cm and even triggered other earthquakes in other parts of the world. This undersea quake created tsunami with waves of 30 meters high and affected 14 countries. The tsunami this earthquake created reached as far as South Africa and Somalia. Estimated deaths on this killer earthquake were 230,000 and recorded as one of the most destructive earthquake in the history.



1. Valdivia, Chile (May 22, 1960) – the strongest earthquake ever recorded in world history has a magnitude of 9.5 on a Richter scale and it shook Chile on May 22, 1960. Estimated deaths on that earthquake were only 2000 and some 3,000 injuries and 2 million people left homeless. Damage to properties was $550 million. The said earthquake triggered tsunami that killed people in Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines.



Please to take note that the strongest recorded earthquakes does not mean that it is also the most destructive earthquake in history.

Visit this link to have more information of these earthquakes.

http://www.wikipedia.org/earthquake

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