What are the ten largest earthquakes this century?
The National Earthquake Information Center lists the 10 largest earthquakes recorded since 1900, identifying each earthquake by the country in which it took place. Detailed information about the extent of damage is linked to each country. A 1960 earthquake in Chile tops the list, which caused death and destruction as far away as Japan and the Phillippines.
These earthquakes were measured by seismic moment (Mw), which is defined as "a measure of the size of an earthquake based on the area of fault rupture, the average amount of slip, and the force that was required to overcome the friction sticking the rocks together that were offset by faulting." This measurement is a more accurate estimation of the size of an earthquake compared to the more commonly known "Richter" scale, according to the site's glossary.
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