EARTHQUAKE IN MEXICO : 20th Century’s Most Disastrous Earthquakes

The following is a chronological list of the 20th Century’s worst earthquakes in terms of fatalities:

1906--April 18-19, San Francisco, 452; Aug. 16, Valparaiso, Chile, 20,000.

1908--Dec. 28, Messina, Italy, 83,000.

1915--Jan. 13, Avezzano, Italy, 29,980.

1920--Dec. 16, Gansu, China, 100,000.

1923--Sept. 1, Tokyo, 140,000.

1927--May 22, Nanshan, China, 200,000.

1932--Dec. 26, Gansu, China, 70,000.

1934--Jan. 15, India-Nepalese border, 10,700.

1935--May 31, Quetta, India, 30,000.

1939--Jan. 24, Chillan, Chile, 30,000; Dec. 26, Erzincan, Turkey, 37,000.

1949--Aug. 5, Pelileo, Ecuador, 6,000.

1960--Feb. 29, Agadir, Morocco, 15,000; May 21-30, southern Chile, 5,000.

1962--Sept. 1, northwestern Iran, 12,230.

1968--Aug. 31, northeastern Iran, 12,000.

1970--May 31, northern Peru, 70,000.

1972--April 10, southern Iran, 5,057; Dec. 23, 1972, Nicaragua, 10,000.

1974--Dec. 28, Pakistan (nine towns), 5,200.

1976--Feb. 4, Guatemala and Honduras, 22,419; July 28, Tangshan, China, 242,000; Aug. 17, Mindanao, Philippines, 8,000; Nov. 24, Van, eastern Turkey, 6,000.

1978--Sept. 17, Tabas, eastern Iran, 25,000.

1980--Oct. 10, Al Asnam, Algeria, 6,000; Nov. 23, southern Italy, 2,735.

1981--Iran, 8,000.