Great Earthquakes

1
Great Earthquakes

• Richard Vang
• Jared Dunn
• COSMOS 2006 Earthquakes in Action

2
What causes earthquakes?

• Volcanoes
• Movement between tectonic plates
• Asteroids
• Bombs

3
Top ten largest earthquakes on record
Location Year Magnitude
Chile 1960 9.5
Prince William Sounds, Alaska 1964 9.2
Sumatra-Andaman Islands 2004 9.1
Kamchatka 1952 9.0
Off The Coast of Ecuador 1906 8.8
Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 8.7
Lisbon, Portugal 1755 8.7
Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 8.6
Kuril Islands 1963 8.6
Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 8.6
4
Chile

• May 22, 1960
• M9.5
• Largest earthquake in the world
• More than 2,000 deaths, 3,000 injures, 2,000,000
  homeless, and 550 million of damage
• Tsunami occur in Hawaii,
• Japan, Philippines, and west
• coast of the United States

http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1
960_05_22.php
5
Prince William Sound, Alaska

• March 18, 1964
• M9.2
• 125 deaths, 311 million in property damage
• Landslides, tsunami
• 5 story JC Penny
• building

6
Sumatra-Andaman Islands

• December 26, 2004
• M9.1
• Tsunami caused 157,577 deaths, 26,763 missing and
  1,075,350
• relocated in South Asia
• and East Africa

7
Kamchatka

• November 4, 1952
• M9.0
• No lives were lost in Kamchatka
• Tsunami flooded
• streets in Midway
• Islands from the
• Kamchatka
• earthquake

8
Off The Coast of Ecuador

• January 31, 1906
• M8.8
• Channels of Wailuku and Wailoa Rivers dried up

9
Rat Islands, Alaska

• February 4, 1965
• M8.7
• Tsunami about 10.7 meter
• high

10
Lisbon, Portugal

• November 1, 1755
• M8.7
• Fire ravaged the city
• Czech broadsheet with
• the inscription The story
• of the disastrous
• earthquake in Lisbon

11
Northern Sumatra, Indonesia

• March 28, 2005
• M8.6
• Depth of 30km
• 1000 people killed

http//static.flickr.com/6/7700922_1edc94ab6d.jpg?
v0
12
Kuril Islands

• October 13, 1963
• M8.6
• Depth of 33km

http//www.drgeorgepc.com/tsu94KurilIslands.gif
13
Andreanof Islands, Alaska

• March 9, 1957
• M8.6
• 18 meter tsunami

http//neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/usa/1957_03_09.
html
14
Conclusion

• Located same type of boundaries (convergent)
• 8.6 magnitude and above
• Most occur on the Ring of Fire
• All generated tsunamis

15
References

• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1
  960_05_22.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/
  1964_03_28.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/20
  04/usslav
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1
  952_11_04.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1
  906_01_31.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/
  1965_02_04.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1
  755_11_01.php
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/20
  05/usweax/summary
• http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/
  1957_03_09.php
• http//www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/
  historic/aleutian57.html
• http//www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/hazards/earthquak
  e_11_report.html