Other Major Earthquakes
A list of notable earthquakes compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey:
July 27, 1976: Tangshan, China, magnitude 7.5. Official casualty figure is 255,000 deaths. Estimated death toll as high as 655,000, 799,000 injured and extensive damage in the area. This is probably the greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last four centuries, and the second greatest in recorded history.
Jan. 12, 2010: Haiti, 7.0. More than 300,000 people were killed, 300,000 injured, 1.3 million displaced, about 105,000 homes destroyed and 208,000 damaged in the Port-au-Prince area and much of southern Haiti, according to government estimates.
Dec. 26, 2004: Sumatra, 9.1. This is the third-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska, earthquake. In total, 228,000 people were killed or were missing and presumed dead in 14 countries due to the quake and ensuing tsunami.
Dec. 16, 1920: Haiyuan, Ningxia, China, 7.8. Total destruction in the Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area. Estimated death toll of 200,000
Sept. 1, 1923: Kanto, Japan, 7.9. Extreme destruction in the Tokyo-Yokohama area from the earthquake and subsequent firestorms, 143,000 dead.
Oct. 5, 1948: Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 7.3, 110,000 killed
May 12, 2008: Eastern Sichuan, China, 7.9, 87,600
Oct. 8, 2005: Pakistan, 7.6, 86,000
Dec. 28, 1908: Messina, Italy, 7.2, 72,000.
May 31, 1970: Chimbote, Peru, 7.4, 70,000.
Source: Associated Press