373 B.C. - Earthquake off Helice, Greece

1556 - Chinese earthquake; 830,000 deaths reported

1783 - Earthquakes of Calabria, Italy, first recording of earthquakes in scientific field investigation by P. Schiantarelli

1819, June 16 - Earthquake of Cutch, India; observed faulting (Allah Bund).

1819, January 24 - New Zealand earthquake; observed faulting.

1883, August 27 - Explosion of Krakatoa rates largest explosion of modern times, creates tsunamis over 120 feet in height.

1897, June 12 - Great earthquake of Assam, India ; investigation by Oldham.

1897, September 3 and 10 - Great Alaskan earthquakes, uplifts reaching 47 feet.

1923, September 1 - The Great Kanto earthquake, with its epicentre just outside Tokyo, claims the lives of 142,800 people in the Japanese capital.

1933, March 3 - Great Sanriku earthquake and tsunami.

1946, April 1 - Aleutian tsunami, destructive on Hawaii; seismic sea warning service organized in consequence.

1950, August 15 - Great earthquake, Tibet and Assam.

1954, March 29 - Earthquake 640 kilometers deep under Spain.

1954, December 16 - Major earthquake in Nevada; large and extensive faulting.

1960, May 22 - The world's strongest recorded earthquake devastates Chile, with a reading of 9.5 on the Richter scale. A tsunami 30ft (10m) high eliminates entire villages in Chile and kills 61 people hundreds of miles away, in Hawaii.

1970, May 31 - An earthquake high in the Peruvian Andes triggers a landslide burying the town of Yungay and killing 66,000 people.

1976, July 28 - The Chinese city of Tangshan is reduced to rubble in a quake that claims at least 250,000 lives

2003, December 26 - More than 26,000 people are killed when an earthquake destroys the historic city of Bam in southern Iran.

2004, December 26 - Hundreds of thousands are killed across Asia when an earthquake measuring 8.9 Richter triggers sea surges that spread across the region.

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An earthquake in southeast Asia in late 2004 caused a series of tsunamis, that
decimated entire cities, like Banda Aceh, Indonesia (picture above)

Next Page : A History of Earthquake Detection