10 most destructive earthquakes in history

A few days ago in the Western United States occurred in the history of the state of California. Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without electricity. Was partially destroyed infrastructure, roads. Fortunately, this time did without victims. Annually in the world there are about 100,000 earthquakes of varying strength. Of them are particularly strong — about 100. The strongest earthquakes occur much less frequently, but often proves disastrous. With a large number of victims and destruction. However, in the history of the Earth there were earthquakes, which were included in the textbooks as the most deadly. The number of victims in them, there were hundreds of thousands. It's about these earthquakes, we today recall.

the Most destructive earthquake in history of Japan

1 Sep 1923 Japanese Kanto region was one of the deadliest earthquakes in the history of mankind. Its magnitude was 8.3 points. It is almost completely destroyed Tokyo and Yokohama. According to official figures the death toll was 174 thousand people. 542 000 people went missing. The total number of victims – about 4 million people. From 694 000 houses and buildings were completely or partially destroyed about 381 000.

the deadliest earthquake in Iran

The force of the impact of the earthquake that occurred in Damgan on 22 December 856 of the year, was 7.9 points. It was determined later that the epicenter was near the city. Surrounding the complex Geology of this region increased the area of maximum destruction, which was about 350 kilometers along the mountains Alborz. The destruction occurred in the cities Chavanu, Astan, Tash, Bastam and Shahrud. All around them the village was damaged or were completely destroyed. The disaster claimed the lives of about 200,000 people.

the Earthquake in Haiti. More than 200 000 victims

What Happened January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake took the lives of 222 570 people. According to official data, various wounds received 311 000 people. Missing 869 people. The amount of material damage from the disaster occurred amounted to 5.6 billion euros. The epicenter was located 22 kilometers from the capital of the Republic of Haiti Port-AU-Prince. The strength of the first quake was 7 points. After that it was multiple retries. Some force was more than 5 points.

Earthquake in Ganja

Lake Goygol

On 30 September 1139 in near Ganja city earthquake that killed about 230,000 people. According to historians, the storm was so powerful that he struck the mountain of Kapaz, blocking runs through it the river Aghsu. As a result, the region was formed eight lakes – one of them Goygol. Now it is part of the Goygol reserve, which was created in 1965.

Earthquake in Aleppo

A Year earlier there was one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. October 11, 1138 years the element of a magnitude of 8.5 points killed more than 230,000 people. The population of Aleppo was restored only after several centuries. Earthquake in Aleppo, was part of a series of earthquakes that occurred in the 1138-1139 and engulfed the territory of modern Northern Syria, southwest Turkey and later Iran and Azerbaijan.

The deadliest earthquake in modern history occurred in the Indian ocean

impact of the tsunami on the island of Sumatra

According to various estimates, it killed from 228 000 to 300 000 people. The earthquake began on the 26th of December 2004 in the Indian ocean near the island of Sumatra. According to various estimates, the magnitude of the earthquakes ranged from 9.1 to 9.3 points. It is among the three most powerful in history. The earthquake caused a tsunami wave which reached the coast in 14 countries. Reached even the coast of Port Elizabeth in South Africa, despite the fact that he was in the 6900 kilometers from the epicenter. In some cases, to the coasts came the wave height is above 20 meters.

Earthquake in Gansu and Shaanxi. One of the most tragic

16 December 1920 in the Chinese provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi had a devastating earthquake. The force of his first blow was 7.8 points. Then followed a series of aftershocks, lasting for three minutes. They were so powerful that appeared because of them the earth's crust buried entire villages. The total death toll in this natural disaster amounted to 270 000 people. Many people have died from the cold since lost their homes. Suffered a total of seven Chinese provinces and regions. Territory destruction amounted to 3.8 thousand square kilometers.

Largest earthquake in the history of the Byzantine Empire. Antioch earthquake 526

According to historians, in this earthquake killed 250,000 people. It happened in Antioch, which was part of the Byzantine Empire, covering the neighboring region of Syria. Earthquake-caused fires destroyed most of the standing buildings.

The devastating earthquake in Tangshan

A Catastrophic earthquake struck the Chinese city of Tangshan on July 28 1976. Its magnitude has made 7,8 points. From the first blow had destroyed 90 percent of all urban buildings. According to official figures, the disaster has claimed a 242 419 human lives. According to unofficial up to 655 000. The horrific number of casualties is due to the fact that the main shock of earthquake occurred at night. Almost all residents at this point were sleeping.

The deadliest earthquake in history. Again, China

The Most deadlythe earthquake in history occurred in Shaanxi province on 23 January 1556. The great Chinese earthquake. It has killed more than 830 000 people! In the midst of opened a 20-meter gaps and cracks. Damage affected areas were the epicenter of the earthquake five kilometers.

Such a huge casualties due to the fact that the bulk of the people lived in fragile houses, and in caves dug in the hillsides. After the first shocks of the building began to sink into loose soil, and the cave collapsed and were flooded by mudflows.

the Most powerful earthquake in history. Chile, 1960

A Separate line would like to remind you about the most powerful earthquake in the history of mankind. It occurred on 22 may 1960 in Chile. It is also called the Great Chilean earthquake. Its magnitude was 9.5 points. Strong tremors shook an area of 200 000 square kilometers. The earthquake triggered tsunami waves which reached heights of 10 meters. They even reached the town of Hilo Hawaii about 10 thousand kilometers from the epicenter, and caused significant damage. The remnants of the tsunami were witnessed even off the coast of Japan and the Philippines.

the scale of the tsunami caused by the earthquake in Chile in 1960

Surprisingly, despite such horrendous proportions, the number of victims in this earthquake was less than other from the list above. The reason is that the brunt of sparsely populated areas. As a result of this earthquake killed 6 thousand people.

The worst earthquake in the history of the USSR

7 December 1988 was the worst earthquake in the history of the USSR. In the North-West of the Armenian SSR in the town of Spitak happened a natural disaster that killed 25,000 people and inundated almost 40 percent of the territory of Armenia. 140,000 people in the disaster were disabled, 514 000 were left homeless.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.8 points. The city itself, which was the epicenter, and 58 nearby villages were razed to the ground. A series of aftershocks caused considerable damage to 21 city and 300 villages. The total damage from the earthquake amounted to about 10 billion rubles.

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