10 Strongest Earthquakes in History

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.
Determining the largest earthquakes can be a difficult task. Below is the list of all known 10 Strongest earthquakes measured or estimated to have a moment magnitude scale or Richter magnitude scale of 8.5 and above.

Top 10 Strongest Earthquakes in The History.

1. Valdivia Earthquake, Southern Chile

Magnitude:   9.5 Mw        Deaths:   1,655       Date:   May 22nd, 1960

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean Earthquake of Sunday, 22 May 1960 is to date the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Earth’s history, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. It occurred in the afternoon and its resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.

2. Great Alaskan Earthquake
Magnitude:  9.2        Deaths:  141           Date:    Mar 27th, 1964

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 143 deaths. It was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph. It had a magnitude of 9.2, at the time making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history.
The shaking lasted about 4 minutes. Landslides in Anchorage caused heavy damage. Huge slides occurred in the downtown business section and water mains and gas, sewer, telephone and electrical systems were disrupted throughout the area.

3. Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
Magnitude:   9.1 Mw       Deaths:      227,898         Date:   Dec 26th, 2004

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
The tsunami caused more casualties than any other in recorded history, although some estimates say the death toll from the 2010 Haiti earthquake was larger. The tsunami was recorded nearly world-wide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

4. Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan
Magnitude:    9.0 Mw          Deaths:   15,870        Date:   Mar 11th, 2011

Great East Japan Earthquake was a magnitude 9.03 (Mw) undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday, 11 March 2011,with the epicenter approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku and the hypocenter at an underwater depth of approximately 32 km (20 mi). It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world since modern record. This quake killed an estimated 15,870 people and damaged some nuclear reactors. This earthquake is the largest ever recorded in Japan.
This quake caused 15,870 deaths, 6,114 injured, and 2,814 people missing across twenty prefectures, as well as 129,225 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 254,204 buildings ‘half collapsed’, and another 691,766 buildings partially damaged.

5. Kamchatka Earthquakes, Russia
Magnitude:   9.0 Mw          Date:    Nov 4th, 1952

The world’s first recorded magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the east coast of Kamchatka in 1952. The quake generated a 43-foot tsunami (13 m) locally. The main earthquake struck at 16:58 GMT on November 4, 1952. Initially assigned a magnitude of 8.2, the quake was revised to 9.0 Mw and a period of about 17 minutes, in later years. A large tsunami resulted, causing destruction and loss of life around the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. Hawaii was also struck, with estimated damages of up to US$1 million and livestock losses, but no human casualties were recorded.

6. Offshore Maule, Chile
Magnitude:  8.8    Deaths:  525        Date: 27 February 2010

The 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a seismograph. It was felt strongly in six Chilean regions.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami which devastated several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaged the port at Talcahuano.It causes Casualties, 525 killed, 25 missing.

7. Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake
Magnitude:   8.8  Deaths:   1,500   Date: January 31, 1906

The 1906 Ecuador-Colombia earthquake occurred at 15:36 UTC on January 31, off the coast of Ecuador, near Esmeraldas. The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.8 and triggered a destructive tsunami that caused at least 500 casualties on the coast of Colombia.
A catastrophic magnitude 8.8 earthquake ruptured off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia and generated a strong tsunami that killed 500 to 1,500 people. The tsunami spread along the coast of Central America, and even stretched to San Francisco and Japan.
The earthquake occurred along the boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. The earthquake is likely to be a result of thrust-faulting, caused by the subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate.
The coastal parts of Ecuador and Colombia have a history of great megathrust earthquakes originating from this plate boundary.

8. Rat Islands, Alaska
Magnitude:   8.7      Date:  4 February, 1965

Alaska had been a state for only 7 years when this huge earthquake triggered a tsunami of over 30 feet (10 meters). Despite its size, the quake caused little damage due to its remote location at the tip of the Aleutian Islands.
The 1965 Rat Islands earthquake occurred at 05:01 UTC, on 4 February. It had a magnitude of 8.7 and triggered a tsunami of over 10 m on Shemya Island, but caused very little damage.
Flooding from the tsunami caused $10,000 worth of damage on Amchitka Island. Minor damage from the earthquake was recorded on both Attu and Shemya islands in the form of cracks in runways.

9. Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
Magnitude:   8.6   Deaths:  1300   Date:  28 March 2005

Sumatra earthquake was a major earthquake on 28 March 2005, located off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Approximately 1300 people were killed by the earthquake, mostly on the island of Nias.
The earthquake occurred at 16:09:36 UTC, on 28 March 2005. The earthquake lasted for about two minutes in total. The quake ruptured below the surface of the Indian Ocean, where the Indo-Australian Plate is pushing under the Eurasian plate at the Sunda trench, similar to the 2004 quake.

10. Assam-Tibet
Magnitude:   8.6        Deaths: 780          Date: 1950

In 1950, a massive 8.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Assam – Tibet region, killing at least 780 people, injuring thousands, and destroying many buildings. Cracks developed in the ground and large landslides occurred, and a village slid into a river and was washed away. Severe damage was also experienced in Assam, India and the vicinity.
The quake struck at the intersection of the most vigorous collision of continental plates on the planet, where the Indian continental plate smashes into the Eurasian plate and dives beneath it. The slow-motion crash helped create the massive Himalayas.

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10 Most Cruel Rulers Ever in History

Throughout the history of mankind there have been many cruel rulers that use terror to gain control of public. They rule with an iron fist and an unrelenting thirst for power and recognition. Unfortunately for society there was too many for them all to fit on the list, so here’s the worst of the worst. From bad to worst, here are the top 10 evil men, 10 most cruel rulers ever in history.

10 Most Cruel Rulers Ever in history of the world.

Idi Amin Dada

One of the most cruel rulers ever, Idi Amin Dada was the military dictator and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King’s African Rifles in 1946, Amin held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. He later promoted himself to Field Marshal while he was the head of state. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extra judicial killings and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. The estimates range of people killed from 80,000 to 500,000.
He hate Europeans “We Africans used to carry Europeans, but now Europeans are carrying us. We are now the masters … They came from Britian and wanted to show that I really have power in my country.” Amin was eventually overthrown, but until his death, he held that Uganda needed him and he never expressed remorse for the abuses of his regime. On 20 July 2003, died at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure.

Attila The Hun

Attila (Attila the Hun), was the ruler of the Huns from 434 to 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. He was considered as one of the history`s greatest villains. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople. He also attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orleans) before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
Subsequently he invaded Italy, devastating the northern provinces, but was unable to take Rome. He planned for further campaigns against the Romans. He returned in 452 to claim his marriage to Honoria anew, invading and ravaging Italy along the way. Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night. He died in the early months of 453.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed “Genghis Khan”, he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. He was a warrior and ruler. starting from obscure and insignificant beginnings, brought all the nomadic tribes of Mongolia under the rule of himself and his family in a rigidly disciplined military state.

Pol Pot

Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979. Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. During his time in power, his radical communist government forced the mass evacuations of cities, killed or displaced millions of people, and left a legacy of disease and starvation. Under his leadership, his government caused the deaths of at least one million people from forced labor, starvation, disease, torture, or execution.

Vlad Tepes

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (Vlad the Impaler) known for executing his enemies by impalement, and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire. He was a fan of various forms of torture including disemboweling and rectal and facial impalement. He tortured thousands while he ate and drunk among the corpses. He impaled every person in the city of Amlas nearly 20,000 men, women and children. Vlad tortured the people ordering him to be skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, hacked, nailed, buried alive, stabbed, etc. He also liked to cut off noses, ears, sexual organs and limbs.

Ivan IV of Russia

Ivan IV of Russia (Ivan IV Vasilyevich), also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia and the first to be proclaimed tsar of Russia (from 1547). Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan’s complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. He enjoyed burning 1000s of people in frying pans, and was fond of impaling people. Ivan’s soldiers built walls around the perimeter of the city in order to prevent the people of the city escaping. Between 500 and 1000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son. He is also remembered for his paranoiac suspiciousness and cruel persecution of nobility. Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess with Bogdan Belsky on 28 March.

Adolph Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann was born in March 19, 1906, in Solingen, a small industrial city in the Rhineland. He was a German and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He was hanged by the state of Israel for his part in the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II. “The death of five million Jews on my conscience gives me extraordinary satisfaction.”

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II was the King of the Belgians, and is chiefly remembered for the founding and brutal exploitation of the Congo Free State. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death. Leopold created the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken to extract rubber and ivory in the Congo region of central Africa, which relied on forced labour and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3 million Congolese.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party. He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. Hitler was at the centre of the founding of Nazism, the start of World War II, and the Holocaust. By the end of the second world war, Hitler’s policies of territorial conquest and racial subjugation had brought death and destruction to tens of millions of people, including the genocide of some six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. On 30 April 1945, Hitler committed suicide, shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule.

Josef Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 until his death in 5 March 1953. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the Russian Revolution in 1917. Stalin probably exercised greater political power than any other figure in history. In the 1930s, by his orders, millions of peasants were either killed or permitted to starve to death. Stalin brought about the deaths of more than 20 million of his own people while holding the Soviet Union in an iron grip for 29 years.

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