Significant Earthquakes of the 1900s

• July 27, 1976, Tangshan, NE, ChinaM7.5 · 242,769 deaths · $5.6 billion
• December 16, 1920, Gansu Province, Shanxi Province, ChinaM8.3 · 235,502 deaths · $25 million · tsunami
• October 5, 1948, Ashkhabad, TurkmenistanM7.2 · 110,000 deaths · $25 million
• September 1, 1923, Tokyo, Yokohama, JapanM7.9 · 105,385 deaths · $600 million · 695,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• December 28, 1908, Messina, Sicily, Calabria, ItalyM7 · 80,000 deaths · $116 million · tsunami
• May 31, 1970, Northern, Pisco, Chiclayo, PeruM7.9 · 66,794 deaths · $530 million · tsunami
• May 30, 1935, Quetta, PakistanM7.5 · 60,000 deaths · $25 million · tsunami
• May 22, 1927, Gansu Province, ChinaM7.7 · 40,912 deaths · 26,674 houses destroyed
• June 20, 1990, Rasht, Qazvin, Zanjan, Rudbar, Manjil, IranM7.3 · 40,000 deaths · $7.2 billion · 100,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• December 26, 1939, Erzincan, TurkeyM7.8 · 32,700 deaths · $20 million · 120,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• January 25, 1939, Chillan, ChileM8.3 · 30,000 deaths · $920 million · tsunami
• January 13, 1915, Marsica, Avezzano, Abruzzi, ItalyM7.5 · 29,978 deaths · $60 million
• December 7, 1988, Leninakan, Spitak, Kirovakan, ArmeniaM6.8 · 25,000 deaths · $16 billion
• February 4, 1976, Chimaltenango, Guatemala CityM7.5 · 23,000 deaths · $2.1 billion · 255,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• May 10, 1974, Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, Chao-T'Ung, ChinaM7.1 · 20,000 deaths
• September 16, 1978, Tabas, IranM7.4 · 20,000 deaths · $50 million · 15,000 houses destroyed
• April 4, 1905, Kangra, IndiaM7.9 · 19,000 deaths · $25 million · 100,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• August 17, 1999, Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya, TurkeyM7.6 · 17,118 deaths · $20 billion · tsunami
• January 4, 1970, Hanoi, Yunnan Province, Vietnam, ChinaM7.1 · 15,621 deaths
• February 29, 1960, Agadir, MoroccoM5.9 · 13,100 deaths · $120 million · tsunami
• September 1, 1962, Buyin-Zara, IranM7.2 · 12,225 deaths · $30 million · 21,310 houses destroyed
• October 21, 1907, Karatag, TajikistanM7.4 · 12,000 deaths
• September 29, 1993, Latur-Osmanabad, Killari, IndiaM6.2 · 11,000 deaths · $300 million
• January 15, 1934, Bihar, Nepal, IndiaM8 · 10,600 deaths · tsunami
• August 31, 1968, Dasht-E-Bayaz, IranM7.1 · 10,488 deaths · $35 million · 12,000 houses destroyed
• April 12, 1921, Ningxia, ChinaM6.2 · 10,000 deaths
• August 10, 1931, N, Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Province, ChinaM8 · 10,000 deaths
• January 15, 1944, San Juan Province, ArgentinaM6.9 · 10,000 deaths · $100 million
• November 4, 1952, Kamchatka Peninsula, RussiaM9 · 10,000 deaths · $1 million · tsunami
• December 23, 1972, Managua, NicaraguaM6.2 · 10,000 deaths · $3 billion
• September 19, 1985, Mexico City, MichoacanM8.1 · 9,500 deaths · $4 billion · tsunami
• August 25, 1933, Sichuan Province, ChinaM7.4 · 9,300 deaths
• March 7, 1966, Hebei Province, ChinaM6.5 · 8,064 deaths
• August 16, 1976, S, Mindanao, PhilippinesM8 · 8,000 deaths · $134 million · tsunami
• January 16, 1995, Kobe, Awaji-Shima, Nishinomiya, SW Honshu, JapanM6.9 · 6,434 deaths · $100 billion · 186,175 houses destroyed · tsunami
• August 5, 1949, Tungurahua, EcuadorM6.5 · 6,000 deaths · $7.5 million
• June 25, 1976, Irian Jaya, New Guinea, IndonesiaM7.1 · 6,000 deaths
• March 16, 1925, Talifu, Yunnan Province, ChinaM6.9 · 5,800 deaths
• August 22, 1902, Xinjiang, Turkestan, ChinaM7.7 · 5,653 deaths
• January 23, 1909, Silakor, IranM7.3 · 5,500 deaths
• April 10, 1972, Qir,karzin, Jahrom, Firuzabad, IranM6.6 · 5,374 deaths
• December 28, 1974, Balakot, Patan, PakistanM6.2 · 5,300 deaths · $3.3 million · tsunami
• June 28, 1948, Fukui, JapanM7.3 · 5,131 deaths · $1 billion · 63,000 houses destroyed
• November 24, 1976, Muradiye, TurkeyM7 · 5,000 deaths · $60 million
• October 10, 1980, Northern, AlgeriaM7.1 · 5,000 deaths · $5.2 billion · 250,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• March 6, 1987, Napo Province, Quito, Tulcan, EcuadorM7.2 · 5,000 deaths · $1.5 billion
• December 16, 1902, Andizhan, UzbekistanM6.4 · 4,880 deaths · 41,704 houses destroyed
• March 24, 1923, Sichuan Province, ChinaM7.3 · 4,800 deaths
• May 30, 1998, Badakhshan, Takhar, AfghanistanM6.6 · 4,700 deaths · $10 million
• November 23, 1980, Avellino, Potenza, Caserta, Naples, ItalyM6.9 · 4,689 deaths · $20 billion
• November 26, 1943, Ladik, Samsun, Havza, TurkeyM7.5 · 4,020 deaths · 40,000 houses destroyed
• August 17, 1906, South Central, ChileM8.2 · 4,000 deaths · $100 million · tsunami
• October 3, 1914, Burdur, Kilinc, Keciborlu, Isparta, TurkeyM7 · 4,000 deaths · 17,000 houses destroyed
• May 1, 1929, Kopet-Dagh, IranM7.2 · 3,800 deaths
• April 28, 1903, Malazgirt, TurkeyM6.3 · 3,560 deaths · 12,000 houses destroyed
• July 10, 1949, TajikistanM7.4 · 3,500 deaths
• April 20, 1935, Mialoi, TaiwanM6 · 3,276 deaths · 17,907 houses destroyed
• March 7, 1927, SW, Honshu, JapanM7.3 · 3,022 deaths · $40 million · 15,594 houses destroyed · tsunami
• March 2, 1933, Sanriku, JapanM8.4 · 3,022 deaths · 6,000 houses destroyed · tsunami
• July 25, 1969, Yangjiang County, Guangdong Province, ChinaM6.4 · 3,000 deaths · 10,762 houses destroyed

• 1900 17
• 1901 18
• 1902 24
• 1903 24
• 1904 19
• 1905 32
• 1906 33
• 1907 24
• 1908 14
• 1909 37
• 1910 23
• 1911 21
• 1912 16
• 1913 20
• 1914 22
• 1915 18
• 1916 25
• 1917 25
• 1918 19
• 1919 18
• 1920 12
• 1921 18
• 1922 26
• 1923 29
• 1924 19
• 1925 24
• 1926 23
• 1927 32
• 1928 33
• 1929 23
• 1930 34
• 1931 31
• 1932 26
• 1933 21
• 1934 21
• 1935 28
• 1936 20
• 1937 19
• 1938 28
• 1939 20
• 1940 17
• 1941 20
• 1942 18
• 1943 24
• 1944 15
• 1945 12
• 1946 20
• 1947 18
• 1948 22
• 1949 22
• 1950 27
• 1951 17
• 1952 21
• 1953 22
• 1954 24
• 1955 24
• 1956 27
• 1957 28
• 1958 22
• 1959 29
• 1960 22
• 1961 37
• 1962 34
• 1963 28
• 1964 20
• 1965 26
• 1966 33
• 1967 27
• 1968 41
• 1969 31
• 1970 32
• 1971 33
• 1972 26
• 1973 26
• 1974 21
• 1975 31
• 1976 35
• 1977 25
• 1978 34
• 1979 34
• 1980 36
• 1981 23
• 1982 26
• 1983 46
• 1984 28
• 1985 32
• 1986 34
• 1987 34
• 1988 30
• 1989 35
• 1990 51
• 1991 42
• 1992 28
• 1993 26
• 1994 37
• 1995 31
• 1996 19
• 1997 35
• 1998 31
• 1999 35

• 2100s BC 1
• 2000s BC 2
• 1600s BC 1
• 1500s BC 1
• 1400s BC 1
• 1300s BC 1
• 1200s BC 1
• 1000s BC 1
• 700s BC 1
• 500s BC 3
• 400s BC 5
• 300s BC 4
• 200s BC 10
• 100s BC 4
• 99 to 1 BC 13
• Years 1 to 99 23
• 100s 18
• 200s 7
• 300s 31
• 400s 20
• 500s 30
• 600s 9
• 700s 29
• 800s 54
• 900s 25
• 1000s 52
• 1100s 50
• 1200s 54
• 1300s 78
• 1400s 92
• 1500s 172
• 1600s 329
• 1700s 410
• 1800s 1,073
• 1900s 2,620
• 2000s 1,472

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24.