10 Most Devastating Earthquakes

Every year, earthquakes cause thousands of deaths, either directly or due to the resulting tsunamis, landslides, fires, and famines. Quakes occur when a fault (where Earth's tectonic plates meet) slips, releasing energy in waves that move through the ground.

Scientists measure the strength of tremors on the Richter scale. Here are 10 most devastating earthquakes in recent history.

1908 Dec 28, Some 70,000-100,000 people died in the Messina earthquake in Sicily. The government hired a number of steamships, including the Florida, to ship survivors to America. 

1920 Dec 16, In China an 8.6 earthquake in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Shanxi caused massive landslides and the deaths of 100,000- 200,000 people.

1923 Sep 1, The Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by the Great Kanto earthquake that claimed 99,000-143,000 lives. The 7.9-8.3 quake off Tokyo's shoreline killed some 99,300 people.

1927 May 27, An earthquake in China’s Qinghai (Xining) Province left some 200,000 dead.

1935 May 31, In Quetta, India (later Pakistan), a magnitude 7.5 earthquake killed some 50,000 people. The earthquake flattened Quetta, killing an estimated 26,000 people in the city alone, more than half its population.

1976 Jul 28, In China a 7.8-8.2 earthquake in the northern city of Tangshan killed at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

2004 Dec 26, The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across southern and southeast Asia. The initial estimated death toll of 9,000 soon rose to some 230,000 people in 14 countries.

2005 Oct 8, A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Kashmir near the Pakistan-India border reaching to Afghanistan. It reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides and flattened an apartment building, killing thousands of people in India and Pakistan. Pakistani officials said the death toll ranged between nearly 20,000 and 30,000. The newly reopened "Peace Bridge" linking the Indian and Pakistani portions of disputed Kashmir nearly collapsed during the earthquake. The death toll from the quake reached 73,000. The UN estimated that 3 million people were left homeless by the earthquake.

2008 May 22, China said the toll of dead and missing from last week's powerful earthquake jumped to more than 80,000, while the government appealed for millions of tents to shelter homeless survivors.

2010 Jan 12, A powerful 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti and crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace. An estimated 3 million people were in need of emergency aid. The quake left over 200,000 people dead. Some 4,500 prison inmates escaped during the earthquake. By April they were terrorizing neighborhoods and fighting turf battles. The UN later estimated 222,570 people were killed and 300,572 injured. In 2011 a report commissioned by USAID contended that between 46,000 and 85,000 people were killed by the quake, far below the Haitian government's death toll of 316,000.