Earthquake off Russia’s coast is among strongest ever recorded
Earthquake off Russia’s coast is among strongest ever recorded

Earthquake off Russia’s coast is among strongest ever recorded

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Earthquake off Russia’s coast is among strongest ever recorded

The 8.8-magnitude quake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula early on Wednesday. It is among the top six strongest earthquakes on record, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. The data is preliminary and could eventually be revised by the agency. The strongest quake ever measured, at 9.5 magnitude, happened in Biobío, Chile, in 1960, and was followed by other earthquakes and a powerful tsunami. The damage from Wednesday’s earthquake will only be determined in the days and months ahead. It was the strongest quake since a 9.1- magnitude earthquake in Tohoku, Japan, in 2011.

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An earthquake that struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula early on Wednesday, prompting widespread evacuations and setting off tsunami warnings in Japan and Hawaii, is among the largest ever recorded. The earthquake struck off the Kamchatka coast at an 8.8 magnitude, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. That would place it in the top six strongest earthquakes on record, according to the agency’s historical data.

The data is preliminary and could eventually be revised by the agency. Wednesday’s earthquake is tied in sixth place with two other 8.8-magnitude earthquakes, in Chile in 2010 and Ecuador and Columbia in 1906.

The damage from Wednesday’s earthquake will only be determined in the days and months ahead. It struck near Russia’s Far East, a sparsely populated area. But it damaged buildings and injured several people, though no deaths have been reported thus far, according to Russian officials.

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It was the strongest quake since a 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Tohoku, Japan, in 2011, which triggered a deadly and destructive tsunami that disabled three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and caused nuclear leaks. The Fukushima nuclear disaster ultimately killed more than 18,000 people, injured at least 6,000 and displaced tens of thousands, and remains seared in the memory of many Japanese.

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That earthquake originally measured 8.9 on the Richter scale but was later revised to 9.1, showing how the original assessment of an earthquake’s magnitude can evolve.

The strongest quake ever measured, at 9.5 magnitude, happened in Biobío, Chile, in 1960, and was followed by other earthquakes and a powerful tsunami. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 490 to 5,700 people are estimated to have died in Chile as a result of the initial shock and ensuing tsunami, while the tsunami killed 61 people in Hawaii, 21 people in the Philippines and 122 in Japan. The property damage and economic reverberations were enormous.

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In 1964, a 9.2-magnitude earthquake struck Prince William Sound, Alaska — the second strongest quake on record, and the largest recorded earthquake in U.S. history. The Great Alaska Earthquake, as it is known, as well as the tsunamis and aftershocks that followed for weeks afterward, killed 139 people and caused extensive flooding and damage, according to NOAA. It prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to declare a disaster area in the state.

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Another 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2004, was one of the deadliest natural disasters of all time. It triggered a tsunami that brought 100-feet waves to coastal areas in countries including Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Some 230,000 people were declared dead or missing and hundreds of thousands were displaced. The estimated total material losses in the region were $10 billion.

Source: Washingtonpost.com | View original article

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/30/strongest-tsunami-earthquake-records-russia/

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