• the magnitude-8.5 1922 Vallenar earthquake in Chile caused a series of tsunamis that reached as far away as Japan and Australia?
• the 7.9 M_w Denali Fault earthquake on November 3, 2002 was the strongest shock ever recorded in the interior of Alaska?
• in 1976, an 8.0 M_w earthquake in Moro Gulf in the Celebes Sea in the Philippines killed at least 5,000 people and triggered tsunamis that reached as far as Japan?
• 6.9 M_w Chile earthquake of March 2010 took place shortly before president Sebastián Piñera was sworn in?

Facts on topics related to Moment magnitude scale

Richter magnitude scale

• a 2008 study concluded that the Ramapo Fault in New York has the potential to cause a magnitude 7 earthquake and billions of dollars in damages?
• over 19 days, the magnitude-6 1703 Apennine earthquakes progressed southwards 36 km and killed an estimated 10,000 people?
• the magnitude 6.8 1981 Dawu earthquake in China killed or injured more than 450 people?
• the Swallow's Nest (pictured), constructed in 1911-1912 and located on top of a 40 meter cliff in Crimea, Ukraine, is a medieval-type castle which has survived an earthquake measuring 6-7 on the Richter scale?

Earthquake

• Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki attributed his phobia of earthquakes to the collapse of his family house in the 1894 Meiji Tokyo earthquake?
• Seattle's Ballard Carnegie Library remains standing 44 years after it was sold, despite experts' claims that it would not survive an earthquake?
• seismologists use isoseismal maps (example pictured) to help work out the epicenter, focal depth, magnitude and mechanism of an earthquake?
• AltaRock Energy's demonstration project for generating renewable energy through geothermal power may increase the number of earthquakes in California?
• Hebron, now a ghost town in Utah, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902?
• Karakore was the epicenter of the most destructive earthquake of 20th-century Ethiopia, which destroyed one town and left 5,000 people homeless?
• a 2008 study concluded that the Ramapo Fault in New York has the potential to cause a magnitude 7 earthquake and billions of dollars in damages?
• a foreshock before the 1930 Salmas earthquake caused residents of Dilman to sleep outside, probably saving thousands of lives from the actual earthquake?
• according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau the earthquakes of Douliu, Meishan, Nantou, Hsinchu-Taichung, Zhongpu, Xinhua, the East Rift Valley, Hengchun, Baihe, and Jiji were the ten deadliest quakes to strike the island in the 20th century?
• although the epicenter of the 1887 Sonora earthquake was in Mexico, it was the only historical earthquake to cause considerable damage in Arizona?

Body wave magnitude

• despite a magnitude of only 5.8, the 1992 Cairo earthquake was the most destructive to affect Cairo since 1847, killing 545 people, injuring another 6,512, and making 50,000 homeless?