The 10 strongest earthquakes ever recorded in history

The violent magnitude earthquake 8.8 which hit the Kamchatka on 30 July was the sixth strongest earthquake ever recorded in history. Immediately after the seismic sequence, a tsunami alert was issued throughout the Pacific area: fortunately, the impact of the tsunami was less than the forecasts, with waves that reached a maximum of 1.74 meters (recorded in California), far from 4 meters estimated.

At this point, however, one wonders: but what were the 10 stronger earthquakes in history And above all, how recent are they? Almost all of these earthquakes was recorded in the Pacific fire belt (Pacific Ring of Fire) which, not surprisingly, represents the band of the planet most affected by earthquakes and where 75% of the volcanoes of the whole earth is concentrated.

M9.5 earthquake in Valdivia, Chile (1960)

So far the strongest earthquake ever recorded in history has been the one that hit the city of Valdiviain Chile, with a magnitude of 9.5. According to the estimates of the USGS, the enormous violence of the shock caused about 1,600 deaths, destroying buildings and buildings and leaving about 2 million people homeless.

To understand the violence of this earthquake, it must be specified that the Richter is one logarithmic scale: this means that, between a magnitude value and the other, the breadth of the movement of the soil is 10 times bigger and‘released energy it is about 30 times higher (31.6 times higher to be precise).

In other words, an earthquake of M9.5 Like that of Valdivia free an energy 178 thousand times higher Compared to an earthquake of M6.0 (like that of Amatrice of 2016, which devastated central Italy).

M9.2 earthquake in Alaska, USA (1964)

In 1964, just 4 years later, the second strongest earthquake in history was recorded, which affected the Prince area William Sound, in Alaskareaching a magnitude of 9.2. The earthquake, the most violent in the history of the USA, caused the death of at least 130 people and, according to estimates, damage for over 2.3 billion dollars.

On that occasion, the Earth trembled for about 4 and a half minutes: the “Holy Friday earthquake” (so called because it happened on the Friday before Easter) also generated a tsunami that spread from the islands Kodiak up to the northern California coasts.

M9.1 earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia (2004)

On December 26, 2004 a magnitude earthquake 9.1 He hit the western coasts of the island of Sumatrain the Indian Ocean. A few minutes after the shock, the Indonesian archipelago was reached by a violent tsunami, with waves that also reached 30 meters in height and that devastated several countries of the Indian Ocean such as Thailand, Burma and Bangladesh.

According to the most recent estimates, the disaster caused more than 126 thousand victimswith about 94 thousand missing and over 533 thousand displaced people.

M9.1 earthquake in Tōhoku, Japan (2011)

On 11 March 2011 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Tōhoku region, in Japan: also in this case, the earthquake generated a tsunami, which hit about 50 minutes after the shock.

In that case, the waves reached 20 meters high, causing the death of over 15 thousand people, more than 130 thousand displaced people and, above all, causing the disaster of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

M9.0 earthquake in Kamchatka, Russia (1952)

The fifth stronger earthquake took place in Kamchatka in 1952: just like in the shock of 30 July, the 9.0 magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami with waves up to 20 meters high which mainly affected the coast of Paramushir, an island of the archipelago of Curile islands. The Maremotus also reached Hawaii, causing damage to 1 million dollars.

M8.8 earthquake in Kamchatka, Russia (2025)

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake which has last July 30 struck the peninsula of Kamchatkain Russia, at 11:24 local (01:24 in Italy) was the sixth strongest earthquake ever recorded in history. The epicenter was detected AA about 136 km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyat a depth of 20.7 km.

Fortunately, since it is an unpaid area, there have been no victims: after the seismic sequence, however, an ‘was issuedTsunami alert Throughout the Pacific Ocean area, even if the impact of the tsunami has been less than the forecasts: the highest waves have in fact reached 1.74 meters, far from the 3/4 meters estimates made immediately after the earthquake.

M8.8 earthquake in Maule, Chile (2010)

On February 27, 2010 the Chile It was hit by another strong earthquake: on that occasion the recorded magnitude was of 8.8with an epicenter between the provinces of Maule and Bio Bìo, about 325 km south of the capital Santiago. The earthquake was warned to San Paolo in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina and caused over 300 victims, 12,000 injured and about 2 million displaced people due to damaged buildings. It was the strongest earthquake in South America recorded in the instrumental era after that of 1960 of magnitude 9.5.

The tsunami generated by the earthquake, above all the coastal cities of Constitción and Concepción hit, but the waves propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean, also reaching the coasts of San Diego (USA).

M8.8 earthquake in Esmeraldas, Ecuador (1906)

January 31 of the 1906 a magnitude earthquake 8.8 He hit the town of Esmeraldas in Ecuador, on the border with Colombia: the earthquake was caused by the subduction of the Nazca plate below the South American plate.

As in previous cases, the shock caused one tsunami which invested the coasts of Ecuador and Colombia, but the waves reached the whole coast of Central America, the USA (in particular San Francisco) and Japan. In total, the victims were around 1,500.

M8.7 earthquake in Alaska, USA (1965)

On February 4, 1965 a violent shock of magnitude earthquake 8.7 He hit the archipelago of the Rat Islands, Alaska: since it is an unwilling area, the damage of this earthquake were limited and no victims were recorded. However, the earthquake caused a tsunami with waves that also reached Japan and California.

M8.6 earthquake in Arunachal Pradesh, India (1950)

The tenth strongest earthquake in history dates back to August 15, 1950when an earthquake of magnitude 8.6 was recorded in the state of Arunachal Pradeshin India. The hypocenter was detected just 15 km deep: being quite superficial, the rock was unable to absorb all the energy and, consequently, the earthquake was perceived with strong intensity even on the surface.

The earthquake caused at least 700 victimsdevastating the entire region where numerous villages were also destroyed due to the landslides caused by the earthquake.