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The strongest earthquakes ever recorded

The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: 1960 Valdivia earthquake · 1964 Alaska earthquake · 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. (Updated Oct 1, 2026.)

The largest earthquakes since instrumental records began, ranked by magnitude, according to Wikipedia's list.

Daiki Watanabe · · 17 items · 0 votes · 1 comment · updated Oct 1, 2026

Automatically translated (original in 日本語). See the original

Top 10

  1. 1

    1960 Valdivia earthquake

    Magnitude 9.4–9.6. Valdivia, Chile. The strongest earthquake ever recorded; its tsunami reached Japan.

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  2. 2

    1964 Alaska earthquake

    Magnitude 9.2–9.3. Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA.

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  3. 3

    2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

    Magnitude 9.2–9.3. Sumatra, Indonesia. Its tsunami killed about 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

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  4. 4

    2011 Tōhoku earthquake

    Magnitude 9.0–9.1. Tōhoku, Japan. The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan.

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  5. 5

    1952 Kamchatka earthquake

    Magnitude 8.8–9.0. Kamchatka, USSR.

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  6. 6

    2010 Chile earthquake

    Magnitude 8.8. Maule, Chile.

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  7. 7

    2025 Kamchatka earthquake

    Magnitude 8.8. Kamchatka, Russia. Tsunami warnings were issued along Japan's Pacific coast.

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  8. 8

    1906 Ecuador–Colombia earthquake

    Magnitude 8.5–8.8. Esmeraldas, Ecuador – Colombia.

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  9. 9

    1965 Rat Islands earthquake

    Magnitude 8.7. Rat Islands, Alaska, USA.

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  10. 10

    1950 Assam–Tibet earthquake

    Magnitude 8.7. Assam, India – Tibet, China.

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Candidates

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  1. 11

    1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake

    Magnitude 8.6. Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA.

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  2. 12

    1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake

    Magnitude 8.6. Andreanof Islands, Alaska, USA.

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  3. 13

    2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake

    Magnitude 8.6. Sumatra, Indonesia.

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  4. 14

    2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes

    Magnitude 8.6. Sumatra, Indonesia.

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  5. 15

    1933 Sanriku earthquake

    Magnitude 8.4–8.5. Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Its tsunami devastated the Sanriku coast.

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  6. 16

    1868 Arica Earthquake

    A huge earthquake of magnitude 8.5 to 9.0 occurred in what is now northern Chile. A tsunami reached the entire Pacific Ocean.

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  7. 17

    1963 Earthquake off the Kuril Islands

    An M8.5 earthquake occurred off the coast of the Kuril Islands.

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Comments (1)

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Mayu Ishikawa · 日本語

チリ地震のM9.5、記録として今も一番。日本にも津波が来ました。

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