WITH most famous strong earthquake in the history of mankind, which claimed the greatest number of lives occurred in Shaanxi and Henan in China. Estimated to have died on 2 February 1556 830 thousand people. In history 20th and 21st centuries a colossal number of vibrations in the earth's crust have been recorded enormous power which resulted in numerous casualties. According to experts, the number major earthquakes is growing every year. Also, almost 150 are recorded annually earthquakes small magnitude. Observers attribute this to the approach of the mysterious planet Nibiru.
We bring to your attention the most strong and large earthquakes that happened on our planet in the 20th and 21st centuries, each of which resulted in a huge death toll, piles of destroyed buildings and homes, and a record number of people left homeless. Position in the ranking of described earthquakes very conditional.
† In terms of the number of victims, it is considered one of the most large 20th and 21st centuries Tien Shan earthquake July 28, 1976 with magnitude 7.9. Death toll reaches 750,000.
† In 1950, in the state of Assam (India), so much happened strong earthquake that all the seismographs went off scale. Its magnitude was 9 on the Richter scale.
† February 4, 1976 due to the appearance of a crack in the Motagua fault in Guatemala over 1 million inhabitants left homeless in an instant.
† Most major earthquake in the 20th century according to the scale of the Japanese seismologist Kanamori, it was observed on May 22, 1960 in Chile. Then at least 10 thousand people. Were destroyed big cities- Concepcion, which existed for more than 400 years, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno and others. The Pacific coast for more than 1000 km suffered from the rampant disaster. Coastal strip with an area of 10 thousand square meters. km sank below ocean level and was covered by a two-meter layer of water. 14 volcanoes have awakened. A series of subsequent aftershocks killed 5,700 people and left another 100,000 homeless. The damage caused was estimated at $400 million, and 20% of the country's industrial complex was destroyed. In 7 days (May 21-30) almost all countryside Chile has been reduced to ruins. The monstrous destruction on the coast was complemented by a gigantic tsunami. In particular, the port of Ankund, the capital of the island of Chiloe, was washed away. And on Easter Island, a 10-meter wave scattered, like grains of sand, multi-ton (up to 80 tons) stones of an ancient ritual structure - ahu Tongariki.
† Trouble came to the city of Verny (today Alma-Ata) on the eve of the New Year 1911. The area of complete destruction (9-11 points) covered the territory with an area of 15 thousand square meters. km. Mountain ranges and valleys were cut by faults up to 200 km long. Band of the greatest violations earth's surface(500 m wide and 100 km long) was recorded on the southern coast of Issyk-Kul. Millions of tons of soil have shifted.
†Greatest seismic disaster 20th century occurred on August 15, 1950 in the highlands of Tibet. The energy was approximately equal to the force of the explosion 100 thousand atomic bombs . The total weight of the displaced rocks was about 2 billion tons. Eyewitness accounts were terrifying. A deafening roar erupted from the bowels of the earth. In Calcutta, more than 1,000 km away, underground vibrations caused bouts of seasickness among residents. Cars were thrown back 800 m, a section of the railway track 300 m long was lowered by almost 5 m, and the road was completely destroyed.
† Strong 11-12 points earthquake erupted on December 4, 1957 in southern Mongolia. It started around noon with a strong jolt. Residents managed to run out of the premises, and when the subsequent main blow wiped out the buildings, almost no one was left in them. Huge dark clouds of dust rose above the mountains, initially hiding the peaks. The dust spread quickly, covering the entire 230 km long mountain range. Visibility did not exceed 100 m. The air cleared only after two days. Soil vibrations were observed over an area of 5 million square meters. km.
† On August 31, 2012, an explosion occurred in the central part of the Philippine archipelago. major earthquake magnitude 7.6, which led to significant destruction of roads and bridges. Residents of the island of Samar hastened to take refuge on high ground, fearing a possible tsunami. The epicenter of the earthquake was 146 km from the island. The source of the tremors lay at a depth of 32 km. Fortunately, strong earthquake did not trigger a tsunami.
† On March 11, 2011, more than 20 major earthquakes of the 21st century, the strongest with a magnitude of up to 8.9 on the Richter scale. In Tokyo, buildings swayed and a major highway collapsed. A 10 m high tsunami reached the island of Honshu, and a six meter high tsunami hit the island of Hokkaido. In Miyagi Prefecture, water washed away not only boats, houses and cars, but also tanks from a military factory. The nuclear power plant stopped operating. Authorities have decided to close Narita International Airport in Tokyo. The cataclysm led to a displacement of the Earth's rotation axis by almost ten centimeters... The official death toll in 12 prefectures of Japan is 15,870 people, 2846 people are missing in 6 prefectures, 6110 injured in 20 prefectures. 3,400 houses were completely or partially destroyed. The city of Rikuzentakata, located in the northeastern Iwate Prefecture, was almost completely submerged under water. Strong explosion occurred at the oil storage facility of the oil company Cosmo Oil in the city of Likihara, in the suburbs of Tokyo. Explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant led to a radiation leak... A ghost loomed over the world again nuclear death, and the suburbs of Tokyo could well become one of.
† Late August 2012 episode earthquakes deprived the residents of the small town of Brawley in California. Here 400 happened in 4 days weak and moderate tremors. Nature reminded us that we need to be prepared for anything, because this is an earthquake-prone area.
We talked about the most dangerous natural disasters 20th and 21st centuries - earthquakes, the force and consequences of which could well lead to an unprecedented global catastrophe on Earth. The threat of global disaster is real. The same elements that created our fragile planet can destroy it. The earth is not ready for strong, large earthquakes magnitude 10 or more.
We often imagine nature in the role of a kind of “caring grandmother,” admiring flowers, beautiful landscapes and watching a peacefully babbling brook. This impression is deceptive, as sometimes she shows her true strength.
An example of this is the most powerful earthquake in the world. More precisely, we will talk about several cases known to us, since different scientists and historians are not very similar in their assessments.
The sad list is crowned by the disaster that occurred in India. This happened not so long ago, in 1950. All old Hindus remember with horror the day when the earth split open and thousands of people disappeared without a trace into huge cracks in the earth. All this happened in the city of Assam, which was located on the eastern coast of the country.
Officially, this is the strongest earthquake in the world in the last millennium. Unfortunately, this event received a sad title for a reason.
In particular, none of the metering devices was able to record its real strength, as they were simply off scale. Official science later assigned it a score of 9, although all surviving Indian scientists from Assam unanimously insist that these figures are false, that in fact this monstrous earthquake was many times stronger.
Their words are fully confirmed by the information of their American colleagues, who, being many thousands of kilometers from the epicenter of the disaster, recorded its consequences without any instruments, since tremors of impressive force even reached the central states! This is truly the most powerful earthquake in the world.
On the same day, the alarm was sounded in Japan: the tremors detected by sensors were so strong that the country's civil defense forces cut off pipes, trying to find out in which prefecture such a strong earthquake was occurring.
What was their surprise and horror when they learned that the disaster that occurred in distant India had echoed with strong underground vibrations even among them!
This is the most powerful earthquake in the world for no other reason than small size city (completely destroyed) cost India a thousand dead. If something similar happened in Delhi, the consequences are scary to imagine...
Unfortunately, the Chinese are much less fortunate. In 1976, what all historians consider to be the most terrible cataclysm in the history of modern civilization occurred, meaning an incredible number of victims.
We are talking about a cataclysm in Hebei province. Then the strength of the underground rumors was “only” 8.2 points, which is much weaker than the Indian incident, but even according to official data, about 250 thousand people were among the dead.
A terrible number. Of course, this is not the strongest earthquake in history, but analysts believe that Chinese authorities underestimated the loss figures by 3-4 times.
What about our country? Are we really lucky to live in the most sustainable place on the planet? Unfortunately, it is not.
The most powerful one happened quite recently - on May 28, 1995 on Sakhalin. This is a dark day in our history. On that fateful morning, the force of the tremors was up to 10 points.
Due to the small population, everything could have worked out, but the city of Neftegorsk took the brunt of the attack, which after that ceased to exist. More than two thousand people died.
The most tragic thing is that graduates gathered at the local school that day. Of the 26 children, only nine survived.
This terrible event occurred, now known as the strongest earthquake in history, not at all in Japan or China, where such natural disasters so often occur today, but in India.
It happened the strongest earthquake in history in 1950 in Assam, an Indian state in the east of the country. The strength of the earth tremors that began then was so high that special instruments were unable to record them, because all the sensors were just going off scale. After the earthquake ended, causing huge losses to the city and leaving terrible ruins throughout the area, the cataclysm was officially assigned a magnitude of nine on the Richter scale. However, everyone who witnessed this event knows that in reality the tremors were much stronger.
It's interesting that the waves from this the most powerful earthquake in the world even reached America. On that day, August 15, very strong, one might say, anomalous earth tremors were recorded in the United States. Researchers decided that a natural disaster was happening in Japan, however, at the same moment, a similar story happened in this country. The latter suggested that the earthquake was occurring in America, but not any closer. As a result, it turned out that such a destructive shaking took place in India. It is not only the severity of this disaster that is terrible, but also its duration. The tremors continued continuously for five days, i.e. almost a week. As a result, more than two thousand people lost their homes, and more than a thousand died. More and more cracks in the earth's crust appeared every day, and thick and hot steam poured out of the cracks. The disaster had a very large-scale effect: dams, dikes and other objects were destroyed.
As a result, this strongest earthquake in history caused $25 million in damage. Newspapers described these events after this: many residents of cities and towns tried to escape in the trees, one woman even had to give birth to a child in this condition - high above the ground. This region itself has long been known for the very unstable position of the earth's crust; these places are prone to both earthquakes and floods, which occur constantly as a result of the seasonal monsoons. Two more strong cataclysms were recorded earlier - in 1869 and 1897 (more than eight points on the Richter scale).
Millions of years ago, powerful earthquakes occurred every day on our home planet - the formation of the familiar appearance of the Earth was underway. Today we can say that seismic activity practically does not bother humanity.
However, sometimes violent activity in the bowels of the planet makes itself felt, and tremors lead to the destruction of buildings and the death of people. In today's selection we bring to your attention 10 most destructive earthquakes in modern history.
The force of the tremors reached 7.7 points. The earthquake in Gilan province led to the death of 40 thousand people, more than 6 thousand were injured. Significant destruction occurred in 9 cities and about 700 small villages.
9. Peru, May 31, 1970
The worst natural disaster in the country's history claimed the lives of 67 thousand Peruvians. The 7.5-magnitude tremor lasted about 45 seconds. As a result, landslides and floods occurred over a wide area, which led to truly devastating consequences.
8. China, May 12, 2008
A powerful earthquake in Sichuan province had a magnitude of 7.8 and led to the death of 69 thousand people. About 18 thousand are still considered missing, and more than 370 thousand were injured.
7. Pakistan, October 8, 2005
The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 claimed the lives of 84 thousand people. The epicenter of the disaster was located in the Kashmir region. As a result of the earthquake, a gap 100 km long was formed on the surface of the Earth.
6. Türkiye, December 27, 1939
The strength of the shocks during this devastating earthquake reached 8 points. Strong tremors continued for about a minute, and then followed by 7 so-called “aftershocks” - weaker echoes of the shaking. As a result of the disaster, 100 thousand people died.
5. Turkmen SSR, October 6, 1948
The force of the tremors at the epicenter of the powerful earthquake reached 10 points on the Richter scale. Ashgabat was almost completely destroyed, and, according to various estimates, from 100 to 165 thousand people became victims of the disaster. Every year on October 6, Turkmenistan celebrates the Day of Remembrance for Earthquake Victims.
4. Japan, September 1, 1923
The Great Kanto Earthquake, as the Japanese call it, almost completely destroyed Tokyo and Yokohama. The force of the tremors reached 8.3 points, as a result of which 174 thousand people died. Damage from the earthquake was estimated at $4.5 billion, which at that time was equal to two of the country's annual budgets.
3. Indonesia, December 26, 2004
A 9.3 magnitude undersea earthquake triggered a series of tsunamis that killed 230,000 people. As a result natural disaster Asian countries, Indonesia and the east coast of Africa were affected.
2. China, July 28, 1976
An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.2 killed almost 230 thousand people in the vicinity of the Chinese city of Tangshan. Many international experts believe that official statistics greatly underestimate the death toll, which could be as high as 800,000.
1. Haiti, January 12, 2010
Power the most destructive earthquake in the last 100 years was only 7 points, but the number of human casualties exceeded 232 thousand. Several million Haitians were left homeless, and the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, was almost completely destroyed. As a result, people were forced to survive for many months in conditions of devastation and unsanitary conditions, which led to the outbreak of a number of serious infections, including cholera.
Everyone good day, I am very glad to welcome those who are interested not only in games or shopping, but also in world affairs. It is about the problems associated with disasters that I wanted to talk today.
World disasters, one way or another, affect the life of every person on the planet. And it doesn’t matter in what part of the earth an earthquake, flood or volcanic eruption occurred. Some people always suffer, while others sympathize and try to help.
Unfortunately, scientists cannot fully understand how to predict a terrible event. Take, for example, an earthquake. This is an extremely dangerous natural phenomenon that cannot be predicted. Scientists' calculations made it possible to learn about future tremors of the earth's surface only a few hours before they began.
But even here there may be danger in the calculations, because the earthquake can be much stronger than predicted. The most effective predictor of impending disaster is animals. Many people say that animals are closer to the earth and are more connected to it. So love your pets and they can save your life.
The danger of earth tremors awaits those residents whose houses are located in mountainous areas. After all, mountains are peculiar scars in places where titanic plates break. Fortunately, most earthquakes occur at the bottom of the oceans, but this also poses a danger for coastal living areas. It is almost impossible to escape from a strong tsunami.
The most powerful earthquake in human history: tragedy in Chile
The most powerful earthquake in human history occurred just off the coast Pacific Ocean and practically destroyed Chile in 1960. According to various sources, the force of the tremors on the ocean floor at the epicenter was about 10 points. It is worth looking at the consequences of the wave that destroyed large coastal cities almost to the ground.
The tsunami that hit Chile destroyed not only residential areas, but also industry, everything had to be rebuilt. At that time it cost more than 400 billion dollars.
The strongest earthquakes in the world on the Richter scale: top 5
It is impossible to predict where the next earthquake will occur. How many people will suffer? We only know that over the last hundred years the number of severe disasters in human history has increased.
List of known largest earthquakes:
- The Kemin earthquake is considered one of the largest inland earthquakes. It took place in Kazakhstan in 1911, then, with an amplitude of 9 points, it almost completely collapsed Almaty city.
- The next most destructive earthquake, after the Chilean one, happened in Alaska in 1964. Due to the low population density in this part of the earth, there were only 9 people affected by the 9.5 magnitude tremors, plus 190 drowned. But due to huge wave The coasts of Canada, Japan and California were seriously damaged.
- In 1952, a magnitude 9 earthquake occurred off the coast of Kamchatka. And the rising giant wave 17 meters high swept away Severo-Kurilsk Almost completely, a third of the residents of the city and nearby settlements died as a result.
- Indian tsunami, which drowned most of the coastal cities of Indonesia, Thailand, southern India and Sri Lanka in 2004. Earth tremors began near the island Sumatra. Then the disaster took the lives of more than 300 thousand people.
- But the most catastrophic earthquake is considered Japanese. Although it took place quite recently in 2011, it brought not only destruction to its country. The consequence of the earth tremors was a tsunami, which damaged nuclear power plant Fukushima. The echoes of that disaster can still be heard. And the radioactive cloud hung over the ocean for a long time, and the whole world watched its movement with bated breath.
Is it possible to prepare for underground unrest? Can you predict what consequences it will bring? Is there salvation and where to look for it?
Many questions arise in a person when he thinks about this. Problem current person It’s not that he’s not prepared for disasters, he just doesn’t think about them. After watching TV and sympathizing with the victims, we forget about everything. We don’t think that our country is also located at the intersection of titanic plate faults, and in Russia, like nowhere else, the probability of earthquakes is high.
A little theory about earthquakes
Thanks to modern scientific achievements, scientists have suggested that tremors occur almost every day in the world. We do not feel most of them, due to the great depth of the epicenter or its small strength.
A person will feel tremors or a wave only starting from 3 points; before this, the force is so weak that only instruments can detect the impulse. Some people believe that there are many more earthquakes during the full moon.
The causes of underground disturbances can be not only natural, but also caused by humans. Regular weapons testing or mining disrupts the landscape and structure of the earth's surface. The most dangerous human impact is the adjustment of mountainous terrain. As you know, this is where earthquakes most often occur.
It’s just difficult for people to prove that they are wrong and that they need to change their way of life so that after us our descendants can live peacefully for thousands of years.
World wars and human cruelty towards brothers lead to the fact that cataclysms began to occur more and more often. After all, the earth is also a living and intelligent organism...
Imagine yourself in her place, not only are they constantly pumping out oil, extracting metals, but they are also fighting, destroying not only people, but also environment, poisoning with lead and burning thousands of kilometers of land.
As a result, the soil dies, and with it all the plants. There is so much beauty in the world, will a person never grow up? A rational being cannot treat nature with such disrespect.
How to behave during an earthquake
Each of us learned the rules of behavior during earthly discussions back in school. Even regular drills mean preparation both physically and psychologically.
How might he react? a common person when does the earthquake start? The first is fear, and it’s good if you pull yourself together quickly enough, get your bearings and go to a safe distance from the surrounding buildings, which may collapse if the shocks are strong.
But when panic begins, it most often occurs in office buildings, where workers are under stress every day. And then a disaster happened, running around began instead of constructive evacuation.
At the first tremors, you should hide under the table, then if a wall or ceiling collapses, you will suffer less, and it will be easier for rescuers to find you. If you decide to leave the building, you should do so at the first tremors before they become stronger or surrounding objects begin to fall.
Try to stay along walls without windows. When shaking, the glass is the first to crack and you can get seriously injured. As soon as you get out of the building, move to a safe distance. You should not drive a car; due to the electronics, the car may simply become blocked, and so will you.
If you live in an earthquake-prone area, you should prepare a bag or backpack with the essentials for the first time. You can also put documents and some money there. This is convenient in a critical situation, you can immediately grab it and run out of the dangerous room.
12 points on the Richter scale: adventure project “On the Edge” and learn a lot of new things! See you soon!
Text - agent Q.
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