Was the 8.8 magnitude Chile earthquake the biggest quake of the century? How about of all time? See the biggest news events in table 2 and the largest quakes in modern history in table 1.

biggest quake century history


The science of measuring earthquakes began 1000 years ago in China but the widespread use of seismology has only occurred in the last century. So we can say with fair accuracy which were the biggest earthquakes of the past century but the rest becomes mostly speculation.

The 2010 earthquake in Chile was not even the biggest on record in that country although it is the 5th largest measured of all time. The dubious distinction of biggest quake of century, and in fact largest ever recorded in history, belongs to the 1960 Chile earthquake which measured 9.5 on the seismic scale and caused devastating destruction of both property and lives.

Biggest Quakes, Century List
1. 9.5 May 22, 1960 Southern Chile
2. 9.2 March 27, 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska
3. 9.1 December 26, 2004 Northern Sumatra / Indonesia
4. 9.0 November 4, 1952 Kamchatka, Russia
5. 8.8 February 27, 2010 Chile
5. 8.8 January 31, 1906 Ecuador
7. 8.7 February 4, 1965 Rat Islands, Alaska
8. 8.6 March 28, 2005 Southern Sumatra / Indonesia
8. 8.6 August 15, 1950 Assam, Tibet
8. 8.6 March 9, 1957 Andreanof Islands, Alaska

You can see that three of the biggest of the past century occurred in Alaska, three along the plate in South America. If the list were extended you would find even more large quakes from these areas.

But the biggest quake in history is a matter of historical speculation since we didn’t have instruments for measuring back in the day. Here are some of the most noteworthy in history.

Most Famous Earthquakes in History
650 million years ago Supercontinent of Rodinia seven continents split apart.
January 23, 1556 Shenshi, China estimated 1 million people killed.
December 16, 1811 New Madrid, Missouri changed course of Mississippi river.
1700 Cascadia, Alaska to California Still part of native American’s oral history.
August 9, 1138 Syria 250,000 people killed.
December 22, 856 Iran 200,000 people killed.
November 1, 1755 Lisbon, Portugal Tsunami devastated the capitol city.
January 11, 1693 Sicily, Italy 100,000 people killed.
April 18, 1906 San Francisco, California The famous earthquake and ensuing fire destroyed most of the city.
September 1, 1923 Tokyo, Japan Earthquake and fire destroyed half the city. Carrier pigeons used to communication the news.

Tell us your thoughts on the biggest quakes of the century. And did we miss any noteworthy earthquakes on the historical list?