Where were the world’s worst earthquakes and which countries have the most
Following the devastating earthquake, we look at the worst earthquakes across the globe
EARTHQUAKES are a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, because of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.
The world’s worst earthquake was in near Valdivia, southern Chile on the 22nd of May 1960 which had a magnitude of 9.5.
The magnitude being the measure of the amount of energy released during the earthquake. It is referred as the “Great Chilean Earthquake”.
It has been reported as the largest earthquake of the 20th Century.
Other earthquakes in recorded history may have been larger however; this is the largest earthquake that has occurred since accurate estimates of magnitude became possible in the early 1900s.
The earthquake occurred beneath the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile.
Ground motion, which is the movement of the earth’s surface from the earthquake, caused damage and destroyed thousands of buildings the event happened in the afternoon after a powerful foreshock.
This frightened most people from their buildings and away from where the main earthquake occurred.
Most of the damage and deaths were caused by a series of tsunamis that were generated by the earthquake - it rose up to 80 feet on the Chilean coastline that paralleled the plate.
The combined effects of the disaster left two million people homeless. About 1,600 people were killed and 3,000 were injured.
A recent earthquake of 7.9 magnitude hit the country causing immense damage to life, property and the iconic dharahara tower.
India has also experienced a series of deadly earthquakes due to the movement of the Indian tectonic plate at the rate of 47mm every year. India has been divided into five zones on the basis of shaking caused by previous earthquakes.
Ecuador has several active volcanoes making the country an extremely dangerous for high-magnitude quakes and tremors.
The country lies within the South American plate and the Nazca plate, Philippines lies on the edge of the Pacific plate.
This in the past has caused earthquakes with high magnitude leading to deadly volcanic eruptions.
Pakistan is situated above the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates which makes it an earthquake prone country.
In September 2013, a earthquake of a magnitude of 7.7 had killed over 300 people and caused immense damage.
Also Turkey falls between Arabian, Eurasian and African plates, so the earthquake can hit the country at any point of time.
In 1999 the country was hit by earthquake that lasted 37 seconds but killed around 17,000 people.
The last country on the earthquake prone list is Indonesia, Indonesia is vulnerable to earthquakes as well as natural disasters.
In 2013 an earthquake struck the country and killed 35 people.