World Largest Quakes: 9.5 Magnitude Quake: Chile 1960, 8.8 Ecuador 1906, 9.0 Kamchatka Russia 1952, 9.2 Prince William Sound 1964, 9.1 Northern Sumatra 2004

The World’s Largest Quakes come all too quickly sometimes as we saw in the 8.9 magnitude quake in Japan 2011. On that fatiferous day: May 22, 1960, Chile suffered the largest quake of the 20th century. In fact one of the largest since man set foot on the Earth. Over 25% of the population was wiped out, despite lacking the skyscrapers and things typical for high casualty rates during a quake. Imagine being in New York during a 9.5 quake, buildings falling over left and right: survival becomes nigh impossible.

Other quakes? the 9.2 magnitude quake in the Prince William Sound in 1964 comes close, and it caused a “mega tsunami” up there in Alaska. That’s the type movies are made of, but even those can only travel about 12 miles inland, but that is still some crazy distance from ocean to be hit by a tsunami. Next up: 9.1 magnitude quake in Northern Sumatra 2004 and a 9.0 magnitude quake in Kamchatka Russia 1952, both left thousands dead. The 8.8 Ecuador magnitude quake of 1906 also was notable as the first of the new century to leave thousands dead.