|
| Year |
Location |
Magnitude |
Comment |
|
| 1811 |
New Madrid, Missouri
|
~7.2 - 8.1 |
One of the Largest Earthquakes in the United States.
New Madrid Information
|
|
| 1857 |
Naples, Italy
|
6.9 |
One of the most destructive earthquakes ever recorded in Italy.
11,000 dead.
Robert Mallet made a detailed investigation of this
earthquake,
in which he paid particular attention to the way
buildings were cracked, walls
overthrown, and soft ground fissured.
This earthquake provided Mallet the opportunity
to study seismic effects and lay a firm foundation for
moder seismology.
See The Early History of
Seismometry (to 1900).
|
|
| 1902 |
Uzbekistan
|
6.4 |
4,700 deaths. One of the world's deadliest earthquakes.
Over 41,000 buildings destroyed in the Andijon-Margilan area.
A train was "thrown from the tracks" at Andijon station. A strong aftershock about 40 minutes
later caused additional damage.
|
|
| 1920 |
Haiyuan, Ningxia (Ning-hsia), China
|
7.8 |
200,000 deaths.
One of the world's most destructive earthquakes.
Total destruction (XII - the maximum
intensity on the Mercalli scale)
in the
Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area.
Over 73,000 people were killed in
Haiyuan County. A landslide buried the
village of Sujiahe in Xiji County.
More than 30,000 people were killed in
Guyuan County. Nearly all the houses
collapsed in the cities of Longde and
Huining. Damage (VI-X) occurred in 7
provinces and regions, including the
major cities of Lanzhou, Taiyuan,
Xi'an, Xining and Yinchuan. It was
felt from the Yellow Sea to Qinghai
(Tsinghai) Province and from Nei Mongol
(Inner Mongolia) south to central
Sichuan (Szechwan) Province. About 200
km (125 mi) of surface faulting was
seen from Lijunbu through Ganyanchi to
Jingtai. There were large numbers of
landslides and ground cracks throughout
the epicentral area. Some rivers were
dammed, others changed course. Seiches
from this earthquake were observed in 2
lakes and 3 fjords in western Norway.
Although usually called the Kansu
(now Gansu) earthquake by Western
sources, the epicenter and highest
intensities are clearly within Ningxia
Autonomous Region.
|
|
| 1954 |
Dixie Valley - Fairview Peak area, Nevada
|
7.1 |
The population
was sparse in the epicentral region of this
earthquake, and few man-made structures existed.
Damage to structures, therefore, was minor despite
the geologic and seismographic evidence of a major
earthquake.
|
|
| 1982 |
Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan
|
6.9 |
Four hundred fifty
people killed, many injured and considerable damage in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan. Felt (VI) at Dusti
and Parkhar, (V) at Kulyab and (IV) at Dushanbe, Tadzhikistan, USSR. Felt (III) at Tashkent, Uzbekistan, USSR.
Also felt in the Peshawar-Rawalpindi area, Pakistan.
From
Significant Earthquakes of the World, 1982.
|
|
|
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey