The Great Earthquakes in History
The quakes that killed the most, shook the hardest, or changed how we build.
From the 1755 Lisbon disaster that shook European philosophy to the 1960 Valdivia quake, the strongest ever recorded, these earthquakes reshaped coastlines, cities, and science. Listed in date order.
| # | Place | Where | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 The 1755 Lisbon EarthquakeThe All Saints' Day earthquake, tsunami and fire that destroyed Lisbon and helped found modern seismology |
Atlantic seabed southwest of Cape St. Vincent, Portugal | November 1, 1755 |
| 2 |
 The 1906 San Francisco EarthquakeThe San Andreas rupture and three-day fire that destroyed most of San Francisco and gave science the elastic-rebound theory |
Offshore near Mussel Rock, west of San Francisco, California | April 18, 1906 |
| 3 |
 The 1960 Valdivia EarthquakeThe most powerful earthquake ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5 megathrust rupture in southern Chile with a Pacific-wide tsunami |
South-central Chile, north of Valdivia | May 22, 1960 |
| 4 |
 The 1976 Tangshan EarthquakeThe predawn earthquake that leveled an industrial city east of Beijing, with an official toll of 242,419 and far higher outside estimates |
Tangshan, Hebei Province, China | July 28, 1976 |
| 5 |
 The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and TsunamiThe magnitude 9.1 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake and the deadliest tsunami in recorded history, which killed about 228,000 people in 14 countries |
Off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia | December 26, 2004 |
| 6 |
 The 2010 Haiti EarthquakeThe magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, with one of the most disputed death tolls of any modern disaster |
Near Léogâne, west-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti | January 12, 2010 |
| 7 |
 The 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and TsunamiJapan's strongest recorded earthquake, whose tsunami killed nearly 16,000 people and caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident |
Pacific Ocean east of the Oshika Peninsula, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan | March 11, 2011 |
| 8 |
 The 2023 Turkey–Syria EarthquakesTwin magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 shocks on the East Anatolian Fault that killed nearly 60,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria |
Near Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş Province, Turkey | February 6, 2023 |
| 9 |
 The 2026 Venezuela EarthquakesTwin magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 shocks on June 24, 2026, that struck La Guaira and Caracas, the strongest in Venezuela since 1900 |
Near the coast west of Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, Venezuela | June 24, 2026 |
Listed from oldest to newest. Each entry has the full story, key facts, a map, and sources. Browse all guides or open the explore map.