Over its many-thousand-year history, humanity has experienced earthquakes that, in their destructiveness, can be classified as catastrophes on a universal scale. The causes of earthquakes are not fully understood and no one can say with certainty why they occur, where the next catastrophe will be and of what magnitude.

In this article we have collected the strongest earthquakes in human history, measured by magnitude. What you need to know about this value is that it takes into account the amount of energy released during an earthquake and is distributed from 1 to 9.5.

8.2 points

Although the magnitude of the 1976 Tien Shan earthquake was only 8.2, it can rightfully be considered one of the most destructive earthquakes in human history. This terrible incident claimed lives official version more than 250 thousand people, and according to unofficial estimates, the number of deaths is approaching 700 thousand and is completely justified, because 5.6 million houses were completely destroyed. The event formed the basis of the film "Catastrophe", directed by Feng Xiaogang.

Earthquake in Portugal in 1755 8.8 points

The earthquake that occurred in Portugal back in 1755 on All Saints' Day belongs to one and h the most powerful and tragic disasters in human history. Just imagine that in just 5 minutes Lisbon was turned into ruins, and almost a hundred thousand people died! But the victims of the earthquake did not end there. The disaster caused a huge fire and tsunami that raged along the coast of Portugal. Overall, the earthquake provoked internal unrest, which led to changes foreign policy countries. This disaster marked the beginning of seismology. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated at 8.8.

9 points

Next devastating earthquake happened in Chile in 2010. One of the most destructive and largest earthquakes in human history over the past 50 years has caused maximum damage: thousands of victims, millions of people homeless, dozens of destroyed settlements and cities. The greatest damage occurred in the Chilean regions of Bio-Bio and Maule. This disaster is significant in that the destruction occurred not only because of, but also the earthquake itself caused considerable harm, because its epicenter was on the mainland.

Earthquake in North America in 1700 9 points

In 1700, severe seismic activity in North America altered the coastline. The disaster occurred in the Cascade Mountains, on the border of the United States and Canada and, according to various estimates, was at least 9 points in magnitude. Little is known about the victims of one of the strongest earthquakes in world history. As a result of the disaster, a huge tsunami wave reached the shores of Japan, the destruction of which is mentioned in Japanese literature.

2011 East Coast Japan earthquake 9 points

Just a few years ago, in 2011, the eastern coast of Japan was shaken by the most powerful earthquake in human history. In 6 minutes of a magnitude 9 disaster, more than 100 km of seabed was raised 8 meters in height, and the ensuing tsunami hit the northern islands of Japan. The notorious Fukushima nuclear power plant was partially damaged, which triggered a radioactive release, the consequences of which are still felt today. The number of victims is said to be 15 thousand, but the true numbers are not known.

9 points

It is difficult to surprise residents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with tremors - these regions are located in a fault zone of the earth's crust. But the most powerful earthquake in the history of Kazakhstan and all of humanity happened in 1911, when the city of Almaty was almost completely destroyed. The disaster was called the Kemin earthquake, which is recognized as one of the most powerful inland earthquakes of the 20th century. The epicenter of events occurred in the valley of the Bolshoy Kemin River. Huge relief gaps with a total length of 200 km formed in this area. In some places, entire houses that fell into the disaster zone are buried in these gaps.

9 points

Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands are seismically active regions and earthquakes do not surprise them. However, residents still remember the disaster of 1952. One of the most destructive earthquakes that humanity remembers began on November 4 in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast. Terrible destruction was caused by the tsunami that formed after the earthquake. Three huge waves, the height of the largest reaching 20 meters, completely destroyed Severo-Kurilsk and damaged many settlements. The waves came at intervals of an hour. Residents knew about the first wave and waited out it on the hills, after which they went down to their villages. The second wave, the largest, which no one expected, caused the greatest damage and claimed the lives of more than 2 thousand people.

9.3 points

March 27, 1964 at Good Friday All 47 US states trembled due to the earthquake in Alaska. The epicenter of the disaster occurred in the Gulf of Alaska, where the Pacific and North American plates meet. One of the most powerful natural disasters in human memory, with a magnitude of 9.3, claimed relatively few lives - 9 people died out of 130 victims in Alaska and another 23 lives were claimed by the tsunami that followed the tremors. Of the cities, Anchorage, located 120 kilometers from the epicenter of events, was severely damaged. However, destruction swept along the coastline from Japan to California.

9.3 points

Literally 11 years ago, one of the most, perhaps, the strongest recent earthquakes in human history in the Indian Ocean. At the very end of 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake several kilometers off the coast of the Indonesian city of Sumatra triggered the formation of a monstrous tsunami that wiped out part of the city from the face of the earth. 15-meter waves caused damage to cities in Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Africa and southern India. No one gives the exact number of victims, but estimates suggest that between 200 and 300 thousand people died, and several million more people were left homeless.

9.5 points

The most powerful earthquake in human history occurred in 1960 in Chile. According to expert estimates, it had a maximum magnitude of 9.5 points. The disaster began in the small town of Valdivia. As a result of the earthquake, a tsunami was formed in the Pacific Ocean, its 10-meter waves raged along the coast, causing damage to settlements located near the sea. The scope of the tsunami reached such proportions that its destructive force was felt by residents of the Hawaiian city of Hilo, 10 thousand kilometers from Valdivia. Giant waves even reached the shores of Japan and the Philippines.

Today we will talk about the deadliest and largest earthquakes that occurred on our planet.

The list of major earthquakes includes hundreds, thousands of natural phenomena, the list of the most powerful in terms of magnitude according to Wikipedia includes 13 earthquakes (we’ll talk about the most powerful below), and in terms of mortality (the number of victims and the scale of destruction) there are also 13 earthquakes, the lists are far from identical.

This is due to the fact that seismically active areas in which very strong tremors occurred were in the mountains, non-residential areas. And in poor areas with an eternally warm climate, where houses are like houses of cards, the uneven earth's surface with impressive differences in elevation, any earthquake, even one of medium magnitude, turns into a tragedy on a global scale - with a typhoon, landslides, mudflows, mud flows, floods, tsunami, tornadoes.

“Earthquake - tremors and vibrations earth's surface. According to modern views, earthquakes reflect the process of geological transformation of the planet.

It is believed that the root cause of earthquakes is global geological and tectonic forces, but at present their nature is not entirely clear. The appearance of these forces is associated with temperature inhomogeneities in the bowels of the Earth.

Most earthquakes occur at the margins of tectonic plates. It has been noted that over the past two centuries, strong earthquakes have arisen as a result of the rupture of large faults that come to the surface.

Earthquakes are best known for the devastation they can cause. Destructions of buildings and structures are caused by soil vibrations or giant tidal waves (tsunamis) that occur during seismic displacements on the seabed.

Most earthquakes occur near the Earth's surface."

That is, an earthquake begins with a shock, on land or in water (ocean), the causes of these shocks are unclear... After the rupture, the movement of rocks deep in the Earth begins. There are the most seismically active areas, including, for example, Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Armenia, and Sakhalin.

The strength of the magnitude and the number of victims are not always related concepts; the number of victims depends on the area, the proximity of populated areas to the epicenter of the shock. The strength of buildings and population density are also important.

The largest earthquake in terms of magnitude in one list is the Chilean earthquake that occurred on May 22, 1960 in Valdivia (9.5 points on the Richter scale), and in the other - the earthquake in Ganja (on the site of Azerbaijan), with a magnitude of 11 points. But this natural disaster occurred a very long time ago - on September 30, 1139, so the details are not known for certain; according to rough estimates, 230 thousand people died, the phenomenon is included in the list of the five most destructive earthquakes.

The first one, which occurred in Chile, is also called the Great Chilean Earthquake; as a result of the shock, a tsunami arose with waves above 10 meters and a speed of 800 km per hour; even the regions of Japan and the Philippines were affected by the already subsiding storm. The number of victims, despite the scale of destruction, is less than in other major earthquakes, mainly because sparsely populated areas suffered the main destruction. 6 thousand people died, damage was about half a billion dollars (at 1960 prices).

In terms of magnitude, the following five earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 9 on the Richter and Kanamori scale are considered the strongest after those listed above:

The 2004 earthquake in Indonesia is one of the worst natural Disasters occurred on the planet throughout history, both in terms of the number of victims and the scale of destruction, and in terms of magnitude. The tsunami arose due to the collision of plates in the ocean, the height of the waves was more than 15 meters, the speed was 500-1000 km per hour, destruction and casualties were even 7 km from the epicenter of the shock. The number of victims is from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people. Some people remained unidentified, and some of the victims were forever classified as “missing” because the bodies were carried into the ocean, where they were eaten by predators or disappeared without a trace into the depths of the sea.

The disaster was not only in the earthquake and tsunami itself, but in the destruction that occurred later, and in the infections that enveloped “poor” Indonesia from the decomposition of corpses. The water was poisoned, there was infection everywhere, there was no food or homes, many people died from a humanitarian catastrophe. It was the poorest areas and the people living in them that suffered the most. Eyewitnesses said that the tsunami wave demolished everything, people, children, and houses; mixed with the rubble of houses, small children and animals were circling in the whirlwind.

Afterwards (since Indonesia is always hot), literally a couple of days later, the swollen corpses of people filled the bays of the destroyed cities, there was nothing to drink and nothing to breathe. Even the world communities who rushed to help were unable to remove the corpses; they managed only a small fraction of a percent. More than a million residents were left homeless, and a third of all those killed were children. Over 9 thousand tourists went missing. The earthquake is one of the largest in all respects, in the top five places, the tsunami is the strongest in history.

The Great Alaskan earthquake, which occurred on March 27, 1964 in Alaska, USA, with a magnitude of 9.2, is a disaster of great magnitude, but despite such a powerful force of tremors, the number of victims ranged from 150 to several hundred, including from tsunamis, landslides and destruction buildings.

Losses from the tsunami amounted to 84 million US dollars. This is one of the most powerful earthquakes, but with a relatively small number of victims, since the consequences of the tremors were in sparsely populated areas, uninhabited islands.

The earthquake and tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk occurred on November 5, 1952 at about 5 am; as a result of the disaster, several settlements in the Sakhalin and Kamchatka regions were destroyed.

The tremors themselves lasted half an hour; the first tsunami wave arrived an hour after the tremors. The earthquake itself did not cause major destruction; the overwhelming number of deaths was due to the tsunami, which occurred in three waves. During the first wave, those who survived ran to the mountains in what they were wearing and after a while began to return to their houses, and then the second wave came, which reached the height of a five-story building (15-18 meters) - this decided the fate of many Northern Kuril residents, almost half The city's inhabitants were buried in the ruins by the first and second waves.

The third wave was weaker, but also brought death and destruction: those who were able to survive stayed afloat or tried to save others - and then they were overtaken by another tsunami, the last, but for many deadly. According to official data, 2,336 people became victims of the North Kuril tsunami (despite the fact that the city’s population was about 6 thousand people).

As a result of the Japanese earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Sendai, with a magnitude of 9, at least 16 thousand people died, and more than 10 thousand were still missing. In terms of the totality of one type of energy, this earthquake exceeded the strength of the Indonesian one (2004) by almost 2 times, but part of the main force was under water, northern Japan shifted 2.4 meters towards North America.

The earthquake itself occurred in three shocks. Economic damage from the 2011 Japan earthquake is estimated at $198–309 billion. Oil refineries burned and exploded, car production was stopped, and many other industries were stopped, Japan fell into a global crisis.

The tsunami itself and its consequences were filmed in different regions of Japan on a video camera, since the development of digital technology at that time was already sufficient, and the effects of the elements can be seen in many videos posted on the Internet, in films based on footage of amateur filming.

People were driving in cars when waves came out from around the corners of buildings, burying both cars and people, many ran in panic wherever they looked, and in the end they were still captured by the elements. There are many shots of people running in despair across a bridge going under water... sitting on the roofs of collapsing houses.

The deadliest earthquakes by number of victims are:

- July 28, 1976 Tangshan, victims - 242,419 (according to unofficial data, over 655,000 people died), magnitude - 8.2

- May 21, 525 Antioch, Byzantine Empire now Turkey), victims - 250,000 people, magnitude 8.0

- December 16, 1920 Ningxia-Gansu, China, victims - 240,000 people, magnitude - 7.8 or 8.5

- December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia, victims - 230,210 people, magnitude - 9.2

- October 11, 1138 Aleppo, Emirate of Aleppo (now Syria), casualties - 230,000 people, magnitude - 8.5

There is insufficient data for the earthquakes of 1556 in China and 525 in Antioch. There are sources that report information about these disasters almost for certain, and there are sources that deny such a number of victims.

However, today the Great Chinese earthquake is considered the strongest in the history of mankind. The epicenter of the tremor was in the Weihe River, which is just under 1 km long and is a tributary of the larger river.

Nearby villages were completely destroyed and buried under mudflows, everything was complicated by the fact that then people lived densely, inhabiting the territory (as always in China) and right in earthen caves on the slopes of mountains, hills or in lowlands, and during earthquakes the walls of the caves and “flimsy” houses collapsed in one second. In some places the ground split apart at the seams by 20 meters...

The Tangshan earthquake of July 28, 1976 killed at least 242,419 people, but some estimates put the death toll as high as 655,000. 90% of all the buildings in the city were destroyed under the waves from the first shock; the second shock followed 15 hours later, just when the workers were clearing the rubble, burying them under it too.

Strong tremors, there were about 130 of them, continued for several days, burying everything that was alive before. The opening earth was burying people and buildings in cracks; a hospital, along with its patients and staff, and a train with passengers fell into such an abyss. A drama film, Earthquake, directed by Feng Xiaogang, was made about the disaster.

The 1920 earthquake in Ningxia Gansu (PRC) killed at least 270 thousand people. About 100 thousand died from the consequences of the disaster: cold, landslides, mudflows. 7 provinces were destroyed.

We talked about the terrible earthquake and tsunami of 2004 in Indonesia above.

1138 earthquake in Syria (Aleppo) shocked contemporaries not only by the number of victims, but also by the fact that in that area and at that time there were sparsely populated areas, and the cities usually did not exceed 10 thousand people, that is, it is possible to compare the scale of destruction and the strength of the tremors, if such were the victims. The disaster claimed the lives of at least 230 thousand people.

All the natural disasters that occur, the most terrible, terrible, wild ones, seem to make us understand how insignificant man is before the power of nature... How small the ambitions of people are in comparison with the forces of the elements... Those who have at least once seen the elements with their own eyes never argue with God. Then don’t believe in the Apocalypse...

Tectonic processes in the earth's crust almost daily cause underground vibrations in some part globe. The most powerful earthquakes are usually associated with strong seismic displacements of the seafloor, causing tsunamis. Earthquakes associated with volcanic eruptions also cause serious consequences. Humanity is unable to prevent strong earthquakes. People have only learned to determine their onset and duration with greater probability, and to build more earthquake-resistant buildings and structures to reduce the amount of damage and human casualties.

Five most destructive earthquakes

Of the huge number of destructive earthquakes known modern science and history suffered terrible damage:

• 1976 Tangshan earthquake
• Ashgabat 1948
• what happened in the Indian Ocean at the end of 2004
• earthquake in Haiti in early 2010
• Sendai earthquake in Japan

The Soviet Union had barely begun to recover from the war when, in October 1948, the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, was struck by a terrible disaster. A magnitude nine earthquake, covering an area of ​​more than a thousand square kilometers, tore the entire city and nearby villages to pieces. Residential buildings were built by poor residents of the city mainly from adobe and were completely destroyed. New ones were demolished in whole or in part government agencies, since during construction experience and calculations were not taken into account to ensure a sufficient level of seismic resistance of buildings.

The number of human victims has not yet been determined, but according to known historical data it exceeded one hundred thousand people. Frightened residents at night mistook the earthquake for the start of a nuclear war and were completely at a loss. All communications and electricity supplies were instantly disabled. Only a day later, doctors, rescuers, and law enforcement officials began to arrive from Moscow and other cities to restore Ashgabat, rescue the wounded, and restore order.

In July 1976, the worst natural disaster of the twentieth century occurred. In the Chinese city of Tangshan, a powerful shock from a depth of twenty-two kilometers destroyed almost all the buildings in the city and over half a million residents in a few seconds.

The aftershock sixteen hours later led to further destruction and numerous casualties. Destruction also hit neighboring Tianjin and reached the outskirts of Beijing, located more than a hundred kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake. In total, more than five million houses were destroyed. Chinese communist authorities at the time carefully concealed the scale of the incident. These days, his picture is recreated in the heartbreaking Chinese feature film "Tangshan Earthquake", released in 2010.

Before the new year 2005, at a depth of twenty kilometers in the Indian Ocean near the island of Sumatra, a powerful underwater earthquake with a length of more than one thousand kilometers occurred, causing a tsunami of crazy destructive power and engulfing several Asian countries at once. Shifts of the seabed at the epicenter of the earthquake reached a height of 10 meters and caused huge destructive waves on the Indian Ocean coast.

The speed of the waves at the epicenter of the tremors exceeded seven hundred kilometers per hour, gradually weakening as the coast approached. A quarter of an hour later, the ocean waves completely swept away the coastal settlements on Simeulue and Sumatra; it took them a little more than an hour to destroy the coast of Thailand.

Two hours after the earthquake began, suffering and horror overtook the inhabitants of Sri Lanka and India, and then the tsunami reached the shores of Africa and swept across the entire world's oceans. As a result of this disaster, more than two hundred thousand inhabitants died.

More than one hundred thousand buildings were destroyed in Indonesia alone. In Sri Lanka, an eight-meter wave instantly destroyed a passenger train carrying 1,700 passengers. Residents of Somalia, the Maldives, and Malaysia were also severely affected.

Earthquake in Haiti in early 2010

The international community organized and provided humanitarian and financial assistance to the affected Haitians for several years, restored communications and infrastructure. Doctors from all over the world, including Russia, arrived in Haiti and successfully treated the wounded and sick residents.

At a depth of 32 kilometers in the Pacific Ocean, seventy kilometers from the Japanese island of Honshu, another global catastrophe began in March 2011. Intense tremors lasted several days, a three-meter tsunami destroyed several northern Japanese islands. In some coastal places, waves reached seven meters in height.

Despite the good preparedness of the Japanese for various natural disasters, 28 thousand people died and 15 thousand buildings were destroyed. The scale of the disaster was significantly increased by the presence of four nuclear power plants and threatened to develop into a radiation doomsday. Most of the power units were automatically shut down. All coastal areas Pacific Ocean The civilian population was evacuated.

Scientific progress and modern technical means allow scientists all over the world to monitor possible zones and locations of new earthquakes, and promptly warn people about the need to quickly leave dangerous nearby areas.

The danger of such natural phenomenon, like an earthquake, is estimated by most seismologists in points. There are several scales by which the strength of seismic shocks is assessed. The scale, adopted in Russia, Europe and the CIS countries, was developed in 1964. According to data from a 12-point scale, the greatest destructive force is typical for an earthquake of 12 points, and such strong tremors are classified as a “severe catastrophe.” There are also other methods for measuring the strength of shocks, which take into account fundamentally different aspects - the area where the shocks occurred, the time of “shaking” and other factors. However, no matter how the strength of tremors is measured, there are natural disasters that are among the most terrible.

The strength of earthquakes: has there ever been a magnitude 12?

Since the Kamori scale was adopted, and this made it possible to evaluate natural disasters that have not yet disappeared into the dust of centuries, at least 3 earthquakes with a magnitude of 12 have occurred.

1. Tragedy in Chile, 1960.
2. Destruction in Mongolia, 1957.
3. Tremors in the Himalayas, 1950.

In first place in the ranking, which contains the most powerful earthquakes in the world, is the 1960 cataclysm known as the “Great Chilean Earthquake.” The scale of destruction is estimated at the maximum known 12 points, while the magnitude of the ground vibrations exceeded 9.5 points. The most powerful earthquake in history occurred in May 1960 in Chile, near several cities. The epicenter was Valdivia, where the fluctuations reached a maximum, but the population was warned of the impending danger, since the tremors were felt in nearby provinces of Chile the day before. 10 thousand people are considered dead in this terrible disaster; a lot of people were carried away by the tsunami that began, but experts say that without prior notification there could have been many more victims. By the way, many people were saved due to the fact that the mass of people went to church for Sunday services. At the moment the shaking began, people were in churches that stood.

The most destructive earthquakes in the world include the Gobi-Altai disaster, which swept through Mongolia on December 4, 1957. As a result of the tragedy, the earth was literally turned inside out: fractures formed, demonstrating such geological processes, which under normal circumstances are not visible. High mountains in the mountain ranges ceased to exist, the peaks collapsed, and the usual pattern of the mountains was disrupted.

The tremors in populated areas were increasing and continued for quite a long time until they reached 11-12 points. People managed to leave their houses seconds before complete destruction. Dust flying from the mountains covered the cities of southern Mongolia for 48 hours, visibility did not exceed several tens of meters.

Another terrible cataclysm, estimated by seismologists at 11-12 points, occurred in the Himalayas, in the highlands of Tibet, in 1950. The terrible aftermath of the earthquake in the form of mudflows and landslides changed the relief of the mountains beyond recognition. With a terrible roar, the mountains folded like paper, and dust clouds spread from the epicenter to a radius of up to 2000 km.

Tremors from the depths of centuries: what do we know about ancient earthquakes?

The largest earthquakes that occurred in modern times, discussed and well covered in the media.

Thus, they are still widely known, the memory of them, of the victims and destruction, is still fresh. But what about earthquakes that occurred a long time ago - a hundred, two hundred or three hundred years ago? Traces of destruction have long been eliminated, and witnesses either survived the incident or died. Nevertheless, historical literature contains traces of the most terrible earthquakes in the world that happened a long time ago. Thus, in the chronicles recording the largest earthquakes in the world, it is written that in ancient times tremors occurred much more often than now, and were much stronger. According to one such source, in 365 BC, tremors occurred that affected the entire Mediterranean territory, as a result of which the seabed was exposed before the eyes of eyewitnesses.

Deadly earthquake for one of the Wonders of the World

One of the most famous ancient earthquakes is the destruction of 244 BC. In those days, according to scientists, tremors occurred much more often, but this particular earthquake is especially famous: as a result of the tremors, the statue of the legendary Colossus of Rhodes collapsed. This statue, according to ancient sources, was one of the Eight Wonders of the World. It was a giant beacon in the form of a statue of a man with a torch in his hand. The statue was so huge that a flotilla could sail between its spread legs. Dimensions played with Colossus cruel joke: The legs proved too fragile to withstand the seismological activity, and the Colossus collapsed.

Iranian earthquake of 856

The death of hundreds of thousands of people as a result of even not very strong earthquakes was common: there were no systems for predicting seismic activity, no warning, no evacuation. Thus, in 856, more than 200 thousand people became victims of tremors in the north of Iran, and the city of Damkhan was wiped off the face of the earth. By the way, the record number of victims from this single earthquake is comparable to the number of earthquake victims in Iran for the rest of the time, until today.

The bloodiest earthquake in the world

The Chinese earthquake of 1565, which destroyed the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, killed more than 830 thousand people. This absolute record in terms of the number of human casualties, has not yet been exceeded. It remained in history as the “Great Jiajing Earthquake” (named after the emperor then in power). Historians estimate its power at 7.9 - 8 points, as evidenced by geological surveys.

This is how this phenomenon was described in the chronicles:
"In the winter of 1556 catastrophic earthquake occurred in Shaanxi and the provinces around it. Our Hua County has suffered numerous troubles and misfortunes. Mountains and rivers changed their location, roads were destroyed. In some places, the ground unexpectedly rose and new hills appeared, or vice versa - parts of the former hills went underground, floated and became new plains. In other places, mudflows constantly occurred, or the ground split and new ravines appeared. Private houses, public buildings, temples and city walls collapsed with lightning speed and completely.”.

Cataclysm for All Saints' Day in Portugal

A terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of more than 80 thousand Portuguese occurred in Lisbon on November 1, 1755. This cataclysm is not included among the most powerful earthquakes in the world either in terms of the number of victims or the strength of seismic activity. But the terrible irony of fate with which this phenomenon broke out is shocking: the tremors began precisely when people went to celebrate the holiday in church. The temples of Lisbon could not stand it and collapsed, burying a huge number of unfortunates, and then the city was covered by a 6-meter tsunami wave, killing the rest of the people on the streets.

The largest earthquakes in the history of the twentieth century

Ten disasters of the 20th century that claimed greatest number lives and brought the most terrible destruction, are reflected in the summary table:

Tangshan-1976

The Chinese events of 1976 are captured in Feng Xiaogang's film "Disaster". Despite the relative weakness of the magnitude, the disaster carried away big number lives, the first shock provoked the destruction of 90% of residential buildings in Tangshan. The hospital building disappeared without a trace; the opening of the earth literally swallowed up the passenger train.

Sumatra 2004, the largest in geographical terms

The 2004 Sumatran earthquake affected several countries: India, Thailand, South Africa, Sri Lanka. The exact number of victims is impossible to calculate, since the main destructive force - the tsunami - carried tens of thousands of people into the ocean. This is the largest earthquake in terms of geography, since its prerequisites were the movement of plates in the Indian Ocean with subsequent tremors over a distance of up to 1600 km. ocean floor rose as a result of the collision of the Indian and Burmese plates, tsunami waves ran from the fracture of the plates in all directions, which rolled thousands of kilometers and reached the shores.

Haiti 2010, our time

The first thing happened in Haiti in 2010 big earthquake after almost 260 years of silence. Greatest damage received the national fund of the republics: the entire center of the capital with its rich cultural heritage, all administrative and government buildings were damaged. More than 232 thousand people died, many of whom were carried away by the tsunami waves. The consequences of the disaster were a surge in the incidence of intestinal diseases and an increase in crime: the tremors destroyed prison buildings, which prisoners immediately took advantage of.

The most powerful earthquakes in Russia

In Russia there are also dangerous seismically active regions where an earthquake can occur. However, most of these Russian territories remote from densely populated areas, which eliminates the possibility of major destruction and casualties.

The largest earthquakes in Russia, however, are also included in tragic story the struggle between the elements and man.

Among the most terrible earthquakes in Russia:

• North Kuril destruction of 1952.
• Neftegorsk destruction in 1995.

Kamchatka-1952

Severo-Kurilsk was completely destroyed as a result of tremors and tsunami on November 4, 1952. Unrest in the ocean, 100 km from the coast, brought waves 20 meters high to the city, hour after hour washing the coast and washing away coastal settlements into the ocean. The terrible flood destroyed all buildings and killed more than 2 thousand people.

Sakhalin-1995

On March 27, 1995, the elements took only 17 seconds to wipe out the workers' village of Neftegorsk in the Sakhalin region. More than 2 thousand residents of the village died, accounting for 80% of the residents. Large-scale destruction did not allow the village to be restored, so the settlement became a ghost: a memorial plaque was installed in it telling about the victims of the tragedy, and the residents themselves were evacuated.

A dangerous area in Russia from the point of view of seismic activity is any region at the junction of tectonic plates:

• Kamchatka and Sakhalin,
• Caucasian republics,
• Altai region.

In any of these regions, the possibility of a natural earthquake remains possible, since the mechanism of the generation of tremors has not yet been studied.

According to the National Earthquake Information Center, working on behalf of the US Geological Survey, the Earth experiences at least one very destructive earthquake every year, the magnitude of which exceeds 8.0, about 18 earthquakes from 7 to 7.9.0, which belong to the category of very strong, 120 strong earthquakes, the magnitude of which reaches 6−6.9 points, approximately 800 moderate tremors from 5 to 5.9 points, just over 6,200 minor earthquakes, magnitude 4−4.9, and approximately 50 thousand weak earthquakes, which have a magnitude of 3 up to 3.9. But in the history of the Earth there have been earthquakes that remain in the history books as the deadliest - they took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and harmed millions. It is these types of natural disasters that we will talk about today.

Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, 1138

Earthquake in Syria in 1138- one of the most powerful in history

One of the most powerful earthquakes known to mankind, and the fourth largest in the number of victims (estimated at over 230,000 dead). This earthquake measured 8 on the Richter scale. The earthquake occurred in several stages, covering the territories of modern northern Syria and southwestern Turkey, and later Iran and Azerbaijan. The peak of destruction occurred on October 11, 1138, when Aleppo suffered.

After the earthquake, the population of Aleppo recovered only to early XIX century.

Earthquake in Ganja (now the territory of Azerbaijan), 1139

The strength of this earthquake was 11 points. As a result of the disaster, about 230 thousand people died.A mountain collapsed during an earthquake Kapaz and blocked the bed of the Akhsu River, which ran through it, as a result of which eight lakes were formed, one of which is Lake Goygol . This is the lake in given time located on the territoryGoygol Nature Reserve.

Earthquake in Egypt, 1201

More than 1 million people died in the earthquake in Egypt in 1201

This earthquake is included in the Guinness Book as the most destructive. According to chroniclers, the number of victims was 1 million 100 thousand people. There is an opinion that the figures indicated by historians are far from the truth, and there is a good chance that the facts were exaggerated. However, the disaster was gigantic in scale, which had a huge impact on historical development region.

Earthquake of Gansu and Shaanxi, China, 1556

The Chinese earthquake in 1556 killed 830,000 people

It killed an estimated 830,000 people, more than any other earthquake in human history.At the epicenter of the earthquake, 20-meter holes and cracks opened. The destruction affected areas located 500 km from the epicenter. The huge number of victims was due to the fact that most of the population of the province lived in loess caves that collapsed after the first tremors or were flooded mudflows.

For six months after the earthquake, repeated seismic tremors followed several times a month, but of lesser intensity.

Earthquake in Calcutta, India, 1737

This is the most tragic earthquake in the history of the country.. It claimed the lives of about 300 thousand people.

Great Kanto Earthquake, Japan, 1923

The number of victims of the earthquake in Japan in 1923 was 4 million people.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 8.3 that occurred on September 1, 1923 in Japan. The earthquake caused the death of several hundred thousand people and caused significant material damage throughout the state. In terms of the scale of destruction and the number of victims, it is the most destructive in the history of Japan.The official death toll is 174 thousand, another 542 thousand are listed as missing, and over a million are left homeless. Total number the number of victims was about 4 million.

The material damage suffered by Japan from the Kanto earthquake is estimated at $4.5 billion, which at that time amounted to two of the country's annual budgets.

Earthquake in Chile, 1960

1960 Chile earthquake - one of the strongest in the history of mankind

One of the strongest earthquakes in human history occurred on May 22, 1960 in Chile, the strength of which at the epicenter reached 9.5 points, and the fault was 1000 kilometers. The natural disaster killed 1,655 people, injured 3,000 people, left about 2 million people homeless, and caused half a billion dollars in losses. The tsunami generated by this earthquake reached the coasts of Japan, the Philippines and Hawaii and caused significant damage to coastal communities.

Earthquake in Ashgabat in the Turkmen SSR, 1948

Earthquake in Ashgabat - the most fatal earthquake in the USSR

The most fatal earthquake in the Soviet Union. It consisted of two strong shocks several hours apart. The incident happened on the night of November 5-6. The strength of the natural disaster was approximately 9 points. It took a few seconds for the complete destruction of a population center of 130 thousand. It is still not clear how many people died that night. The number of deaths is estimated at 160 thousand people, which collectively amounts to 80% of the total population of the city and surrounding area.

Indian Ocean earthquake, 2004

An underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a tsunami that was recognized as the deadliest natural disaster V modern history. The magnitude of the earthquake was, according to various estimates, from 9.1 to 9.3. The destruction affected Port Elizabeth in South Africa, despite the fact that it was located several thousand kilometers from the epicenter. Some coasts had to deal with waves higher than 20 meters. The huge release of energy that accompanied the collision of tectonic plates caused a displacement of Sumatra and its neighboring islands by several tens of meters. According to various estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people died.

2010 Haiti earthquake

Damage from the 2010 Haiti earthquake is estimated at 5.6 billion euros

After the main shock magnitude 7 many were registered repeated tremors, 15 of them with a magnitude greater than 5.According to official data, as of March 18, 2010, the death toll was 222,570 people, and 311 thousand people were injured. Material damage is estimated at 5.6 billion euros.

Earthquake off the east coast of Hons Island, Japan, 2011

This is the strongest earthquake in known history. history of Japan. The earthquake occurred at a distance of about 70 km from the nearest point on the coast of Japan. Initial estimates showed that the tsunami waves took between 10 and 30 minutes to reach the first affected areas of Japan. In 69 minutesafter the earthquake the tsunami flooded Sendai airport.

The official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is 15,892. Damage from the earthquake in Japan is estimated at 16-25 trillion yen ($198-309 billion).