What’s So Bad About the Badlands? - Don't Know Much About Geography - page 35

1960, May 22—Chile The city of Valdivia was wrecked, while Concepción was destroyed for a
sixth time by earthquakes. This quake was accompanied by giant sea waves, and two dormant vol-
canoes returned to activity as 5,700 people died and 50,000 homes were destroyed. Because of its
location along the Andes Range on the South American coast, Chile has been historically one of the
countries hardest hit by devastating quakes.
1964, March 27—Alaska The strongest earthquake ever to strike North America hit 80 miles east
of Anchorage. It was followed by seismic waves 50 feet high that traveled 8,445 miles at 450 mph.
Remarkably, given the power of this quake, the death toll was only 131. A similar quake in a more
densely populated area would have been far more catastrophic. Initially measured at 8.5, it was later
upgraded to 9.2.
1970, May 31—Peru Fifty thousand people were killed by an earthquake.
1972, December 22—Managua, Nicaragua This Central American capital was leveled by an
earthquake of 6.2 magnitude, leaving some 6,000 dead.
1976, February 4—Guatemala Fifteen major earthquakes struck around the world in 1976, one of
them this devastating quake that killed 23,000 people.
1976, July 28—Tangshan, China Another of the deadly 1976 quakes hit this northeastern Chinese
city without warning. A year earlier, the Chinese had been able to predict an impending quake and
evacuate Liaoning. But no similar predictions were made about this quake. The secretive Chinese
government allowed little foreign assistance in response to the disaster, but later studies estimated
that more than 600,000 died, half the population of Tangshan.
1976, August 17—Mindanao, Philippines An earthquake and the ensuing tsunami killed 8,000
people.
1977, March 4—Bucharest, Romania Fifteen hundred people were killed when this old European
city was struck and razed by a quake.
1978, September 16—Tabas, Iran Twenty-five thousand were killed by an earthquake.
1985, September 19-20—Mexico City, Mexico Measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, the first of
two major earthquakes hit the densely populated Mexican capital. A day later the second hit, meas-
uring 7.6, as the devastated city was in the midst of rescue and repair work. Buildings that had been
damaged by the first quake simply collapsed. Despite the city's population of more than 12 million,
the death toll was a comparatively low 10,000.
1988, December 7—Armenia A quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale killed nearly 25,000
and left another 400,000 homeless. This earthquake had major geopolitical ramifications, as Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev, touring the United States when the earthquake struck, rushed back to the
stricken region and then welcomed international assistance for the first time in Soviet history.