Richter Scale Day is always April 26th, and celebrates the birth of the inventor of the Richter Scale. Born on April 26, 1900, American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) invented the Richter Scale in 1935. The Richter Scale measures the amount of energy released by an earthquake by measuring the magnitude or seismic waves produced by an earthquake. The Richter Scale measures from 0 to 9. On the scale, each increase in number represents an earthquake 10 times more powerful. At 4.5 an earthquake can damage buildings and structures. At 7 on the Richter scale, severe and catastrophic damage can occur. Some of the world’s deadliest/ strongest earthquakes: Aug 24, 70: Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum. Thousands killed. Jan 23, 1556: Shaanxi province, China. Deadliest earthquake in history kills 830,000 people. Apr 18, 1906: The famous San Francisco earthquake and fire. 7.8 on the Richter scale. Dec 16, 1920: Gansu province, 200,000 killed. 8.6 on the Richter scale. Sep 1, 1923: Tokyo and Yokohoma, Japan. 8.3 magnitude earthquake destroys 1/3 of Tokyo and most of Yokohama. Over 140,000 killed. May 22, 1927: Xining, China: 8.3 magnitude earthquake, approximately 200,000 killed. May 22, 1960: Strongest earthquake ever recorded, at 9.5 magnitude, occurs off the coast of Chile. Mar 27, 1964: Across south-central Alaska, an earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale lasts 4 minutes, 28 seconds, caused ground fissures, collapsed structures, and created tsunamis resulting in 139 deaths. Dec 26, 2004: An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia creates the deadliest Tsunami in history. The waves reach numerous Asian and African countries. More than 225,000 killed, millions homeless. Oct 2, 2005: Kashmir, Pakistan, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake kills more than 80,000 people. May 26, 2006: Java, Indonesia, a 6.3 quake kills 5,749 people. Jul 17, 2006: south of Java, Indonesia, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake kills 750 people. May 12, 2008: Eastern Sichuan, China, a 7.9 quake kills 87,587 people. Jan 12, 2010: Haiti, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake kills 316,000. Mar 11, 2011: Near the coast of Honshu, Japan, a 9.0 quake kills 20,352 people. Apr 11, 2012: two earthquakes occur off the west coast of northern Sumatra; one measures 8.2 and the other 8.6 on the Richter Scale. Jan 5, 2013: off the coast of southeast Alaska, a 7.5 magnitude. Apr 1, 2014: Iquique, Chile, an 8.2 magnitude kills 6 people.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 19:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015