Chronology of major global quakes
Following is the chronology of major earthquakes around the world in recent years. Magnitudes are based on the Richter scale’s measurement of ground motion.
12 December 1992: INDONESIA – A quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale killed at least 2,200 people on a string of islands in the province of East Nusa Tenggara.
30 September 1993: INDIA – A series of quakes killed almost 10,000 people in western and southern India. The first tremor measured 6.4.
6 June 1994: COLOMBIA – A quake brought down buildings and triggered mudslides, killing about 1,000 people in the Paez River valley in southwestern Colombia.
17 January 1995: JAPAN – A quake measuring 7.2, the country’s worst in half a century, rocked Kobe, killing 6,430 people.
28 May 1995: RUSSIA – Russia‘s worst earthquake, measuring 7.5, killed 1,989 people in the oil-producing Far East.
28 February 1997: IRAN – A quake measuring 5.5 killed about 1,000 people in northwestern Iran.
10 May 1997: IRAN – A quake measuring 7.1 killed 1,560 people in rural areas of eastern Iran near the Afghan border.
4 February 1998: AFGHANISTAN – At least 4,500 people were killed in Takhar province in a quake measuring 6.1.
30 May 1998: AFGHANISTAN – A quake measuring 6.9 killed up to 4,000 people in northern Takhar province.
17 July 1998: PAPUA NEW GUINEA – An undersea quake measuring 7.1 created three tidal waves that killed at least 2,100 people.
25 January 1999: COLOMBIA – A quake measuring 6.3 killed at least 1,170 people in the central coffee-growing region.
17 August 1999: TURKEY – More than 17,800 people were killed by a quake measuring 7.4.
21 September 1999: TAIWAN – At least 2,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless by a quake measuring 7.6 in central Taiwan.
26 January 2001: INDIA – An earthquake measuring 7.7 struck the western state of Gujarat killing at least 19,700 people and causing damage in neighbouring Pakistan. The quake affected 15.9 million people in 7,904 villages.
26 March 2002: AFGHANISTAN – At least 1,500 people were killed when a series of earthquakes, measuring between five and six on the Richter scale, struck northern Afghanistan, destroying the district capital of Nahrin in the Hindu Kush mountains.
21 May 2003: ALGERIA – An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale strikes Algiers and nearby towns to the east, killing 2,251 and injuring 10,243.
26 December 2003: IRAN – An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale strikes the historic city of Bam, 1,000 km southeast of Tehran. About 60% of the buildings are destroyed killing at least 2000.