The earthquake that occurred early in the morning in Taiwan is, as noted in all the media, the strongest that has hit the island in 25 years, with a magnitude of 7.2-7.3. This fact sent us asking AIs Perplexity and Claude how strong the strongest tremors in recorded history were.
1. Valdivia, Chile, 1960 – 9.6
The strongest earthquake since the beginning of modern measurements was the one that happened in Chile more than 60 years ago, on May 22, 1960. The epicenter of the earthquake was about 40 km below the Pacific Ocean in front of the south of the country and its intensity was between 9.4 and 9.6. Apart from the earthquake itself, it caused a massive tsunami that increased the already widespread destruction along the coast of Chile, reaching as far as Hawaii and Japan, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Despite its enormous power, the earthquake’s death toll was low by the standards of major earthquakes, though high by any standard. Another measure – between 1,000 and 6,000 (for comparison, last year’s earthquake in Turkey, whose magnitude was “only” 7.8, claimed tens of thousands of lives). Its economic damages were estimated at 400-800 million dollars (4.1-8.2 billion dollars today) .
2. Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1964 – 9.2
On March 27, 1964, the second most powerful earthquake in the history of measurements occurred in Alaska – and one of the longest, lasting 3 full minutes. Although, it claimed “only” 127 lives, but its economic damage was estimated at 311 million dollars, mainly in the metropolis of Anchorage, which was affected by both the earthquake and landslides caused by it. The tsunami that followed contributed to the destruction.
3. Sumatra-Andaman Islands, 2004 – 9.1
On December 26, 2004, about 19.5 years ago, a particularly deadly earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean region. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami wreaked unprecedented destruction, claiming the lives of between 220,000 and 300,000 people in 14 countries, and leaving over a million homeless.
4. Tohoku, Japan, 2011 – 9.1
Japan experiences particularly strong and frequent earthquakes, usually at the beginning of the year, and this was also the case in 2011, when on March 11, a powerful earthquake shook Tohoku Prefecture, triggering a tremendous tsunami 40 meters high, causing widespread destruction and claiming almost 16,000 victims, 5,300 injured, 332,000 buildings, 2,100 roads, 56 bridges and 26 railroads. Despite the heavy damage, which was estimated to cost over 300 billion dollars, the most memorable detail of this earthquake is the disaster it caused to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which almost caused a disaster on an even wider scale.
5. Kamchatka, Russia, 1952 – 9.0
The first earthquake in history to reach 9 on the Richter scale struck the coast of Kamchatka on November 4, 1952, sending a 13-meter tsunami that reached as far as California. According to records, no one was killed in the disaster, but vessels overturned on the beach and damages were estimated at one million dollars (11 million in today’s terms).
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