US Geological Survey: 15 earthquakes over magnitude 8.5 in the last 110 years

The strong earthquake that occurred today in the Indian Ocean not far from the coast of Indonesia enters the bottom of the opening ten of the earthquakes since 1900

The earthquake that occurred today in Indonesia, with a magnitude of 8.7, is the tenth strongest since 1900. According toSummaries of the strongest earthquakes compiled by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Today, April 11, 2012, at 11:38 Israel time, an earthquake occurred in the middle of the sea a few hundred kilometers west of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Initially, its intensity was estimated at 8.9 and later it was lowered to 8.7. A little more than two hours after the first earthquake, the Indonesian government reported a strong aftershock - with a magnitude of 8.2.
Senior officials in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the heart of the Indian Ocean and which belong to India, announced the evacuation of the coastal areas on these low-lying islands, and even rescued some people from the south of Andaman Island.
Tsunami warnings were issued throughout Southeast Asia, especially in areas affected byTsunami of 2004, and among other things, the airport in Phuket in Thailand was closed. However, apparently luck played this time because the friction path of the tectonic plates did not cause a tsunami.

The strongest earthquake since the beginning of the 20th century occurred in Chile on May 22, 1960 and its magnitude was 9.5. However, thanks to the isolation of the place, only 1,665 people were killed as a result, another 3,000 were injured and about 2 million lost their homes. The damages are estimated at about 600 million dollars.

The second strongest earthquake - 9.2, occurred on Prince William Island in Alaska on March 28, 1964, 125 people were killed, and the damage amounted to approximately 300 million dollars, including heavy destruction in Anchorage and large parts of Western Canada.

The third most powerful earthquake was on December 26, 2004, which caused a huge tsunami wave that killed 226 thousand people on all the coasts of East Asia, Sri Lanka, the east coast of India and even in East Africa. No wonder Kenya and Tanzania also issued a warning today Tsunami.

After that, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 9.0 appear on the list - on November 4, 1952 in eastern Russia that caused a tsunami that also reached the Hawaiian Islands but no casualties were reported, on the other hand an earthquake of the magnitude of a mole that struck a little over a year ago (March 11, 2011) East of the coast of Japan left enormous destruction as a result of a tsunami wave created in its wake. Over 15 thousand deaths and damage to a nuclear reactor in Fukushima, who are still dealing with its consequences.

Then a series of 8.8 earthquakes: on February 27, 2010 in Chile, which killed about 500 people and caused damages of 30 billion dollars, on January 31, 1906, an earthquake of the same intensity in Ecuador resulted in a thousand deaths.

Two 8.7 magnitude earthquakes: April 11, 2012, in the province of Aceh in Indonesia, and February 4, 1965 in Alaska, which caused a tsunami over 10.5 meters high on the island of Shemia. In tenth place to today's earthquake, a magnitude 8.6 earthquake on August 15, 1950 in Assam, Tibet, and a similar magnitude earthquake on March 9, 1957 in Alaska's Andranoff Islands.

In places 12-15 earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.5: on September 12, 2007 south of Sumatra in Indonesia, on February 1, 1938 in the Banda Sea in Indonesia, on February 3, 1923 in Kamchatka in Russia, on November 11, 1922 on the border of Chile and Argentina, closing the The US Geological Survey's list of earthquakes that occurred in the Kuril Islands on October 13, 1963.