You know it seems like there have been a lot of earthquakes lately. Maybe it is just all the media coverage. Whichever it is (likely more media coverage I think) I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the stronger earthquakes over the last few years. These come to mind:
In 2010
So far there have been two major earthquakes of note
January 12 earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Magnitude 7.0
- Over 220,000 people were killed as a result of this earthquake
- Many of the Haitian government buildings were damaged or destroyed
- There were about 50 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater
-This was the first major earthquake to affect Port-au-Prince in over 140 years!
-Over 3 million people were affected by this earthquake.
February 27 earthquake near Maule, Chile, Magnitude 8.8
- A large number of people were killed from the tsunami that resulted from the earthquake
- There were over 100 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater
- This earthquake though more powerful than the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 did not cause as many deaths.
- This was the strongest earthquake to affect Haiti since 1960!
- This may have affected the tilt of the earth in such a way that we will have shorter days.
- Since 1973 there have been over 10 earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater in Chile or just offshore
In 2008
May 12 earthquake near Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Magnitude 7.9
- Over 400,000 people were injured or killed as a result of this earthquake, some in the aftershocks that occurred weeks after the initial quake.
- This was the strongest earthquake to affect China since 1950.
- There were aftershocks from this earthquake months after the initial quake.
- Many rivers became blocked as a result of landslides from the earthquake, this resulted in a lot of “lakes” being formed.
In 2004
December 26 earthquake near Sumatra, Indonesia, Magnitude 9.1
- This earthquake caused a deadly tsunami that killed over 150,000 people.
-This was the largest earthquake in the world since 1964.
-The earthquake lasted for at least 8 minutes.
-The resulting tsunami had wave heights in excess of 50 feet!
Earthquakes occur every day. As more and more people live in more locations we are bound to see more people affected by earthquakes.
Much of this information is courtesy of USGS and Wikipedia.
