1. April 18, 1906, San Francisco. 
At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906 there was a major earthquake in San Francisco- a magnitude
of 7.8 on the Richter scale.Tremors were felt even in the middle of Nevada, located deep in
the continent. As a result of the disaster, almost 80% of the buildings in the city of San
Francisco were destroyed and more than 3,000 people died.
2. December 28, 1908, Messina, Italy. 
The epicenter of the earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 points was located in the strait
between Sicily and the peninsula. As a result of this earthquake, which is considered the most
powerful European earthquakes, the city of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely
destroyed. Messina lost almost half of its residents. The total number of victims was estimated
at between 70,000 to 100,000 people (some sources put the figure at 200,000).
3. September 1, 1923, Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan. 
This earthquake of magnitude 8.3 points was called the Great Kanto earthquake, as the
Japanese Kanto region was most affected by the disaster. For two days there were 356
aftershocks, and the height of the tsunami in Sagami Bay reached 12 meters. The death toll
was estimated at 142,800 people.
4. Quetta, Pakistan, in 1936. 
The earthquake completely destroyed the city's infrastructure with a death toll of nearly
40,000 people and damages estimated at U.S. $25 million.
5. Concepcion, Chile, 1939. 
The magnitude 8.3 points quake killed 28 000 people and the damages amounted to nearly
$100 million.
6. December 26, 1939 Erzincan, Turkey. 
This city routinely endures some powerful earthquakes and in 1939,a major one claimed the
lives of 36 to 39 thousand people.
7. February 29, 1960, Agadir, Morocco.  An earthquake measuring 5.9 points only lasted 15 seconds, but the death toll was 15,000
people, with 12,000 injured and 35,000 left homeless.
8. Chimbote, Peru, 1970. 
An earthquake measuring 7.7 points seriously damaged the fishing industry enterprises,
which caused unemployment and impoverishment of the population for several years.
67,000 people were killed, with damages estimated at $550 million.
9. July 27, 1976, Tang Shan, China. 
This earthquake of magnitude 8.2 in the score is considered one of the largest in terms of
the number of victims. More than 650,000 lives were claimed.
10. February 4, 1976, Guatemala. 
The earthquake of magnitude 7.5 killed more than 22 thousand people, and injured 70,000.
Damages were estimated at $1.1 billion.
11. September 19, 1985 Mexico City, Mexico. 
This earthquake of magnitude 8.1 score is considered one of the most devastating earthquakes
in the American Continent with a death toll of 9,000. The injured numbered 30,000 and 100,000 were left homeless.
12. December 7, 1988, Spitak, Armenia.  The city of Spitak and 58 villages were completely destroyed in this 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
More than 25,000 people died and 514,000 were left homeless.
Damages were estimated at $14 billion.
13. October 17, 1989, San Francisco, California, USA.  This earthquake of 7.1 magnitude occurred just before the "World Series" started, and
so in the U.S., this earthquake is also called the "World Series Quake". Amazingly only 68
people died but the quake destroyed a network of roads, and the overall damages were put
at $6 billion.
14. January 17, 1995, earthquake in Kobe - one of the largest in Japan.  The magnitude 7.3 quake killed 6,434 people and the damages totalled $200 million.
15. August 17, 1999, Izmit earthquake in Turkey. 
In this magnitude 7.6 points quake, the number of victims amounted to 17,217 people with
more than 43,000 injured. The earthquake triggered a fire at an oil refinery which took
several days to put out. The total damages amounted to $ 25 billion.
16. December 26, 2004, earthquake in the Indian Ocean. 
This magnitude 9.1 earthquake caused the deadliest tsunami in modern history, killing nearly
300 000 people. The earthquake also changed the Earth's rotation rate which became shorter
by 2.68 microseconds.
17. May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake, China.  The echoes of this 7.9 magnitude earthquake were felt even in Russia. Nearly 70,000 people
died and the damages totalled $20 billion.
18. February 27, 2010, Maule Region, Chile. 
The earthquake in Chile measured 8.8 points set off a tsunami which threatened a quarter of
the globe. Although the death toll was only 800, more than 1.5 million people were displaced
by the quake.
19. March 11, 2011, earthquake off the Miyagi coast of Japan. 
With a magnitude of 9.1 points, this is the most powerful earthquake in Japan on record.
As at March 24, official sources reported more than 10,000 dead, with over 16,000 still
missing.
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