The largest earthquake in recorded history is a 9.5-magnitude event in 1960, which left 2 million Chileans unhoused.

The frequency of earthquakes and the distribution of their magnitudes have not changed significantly over long-term records, but technological improvements have enabled scientists to detect more of them as they occur.

The tallest tsunami in recorded history was 524 meters (1,720 feet) high—taller than the Empire State Building—and occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1958 after an earthquake dislodged a rockface into the water.

Visualize the power and frequency of earthquakes across the moment magnitude scale, where a whole number increase corresponds to about 32 times more energy released.

A 25-magnitude earthquake would release enough energy to destroy the sun, while a -15-magnitude quake is made whenever dust settles onto a table's surface.

If, not when: An earthquake is destined to destroy the Pacific Northwest.

Earthquakes of identical magnitudes are unlikely to cause equal damage because magnitude only measures energy released, and earthquake severity depends on environmental factors, such as local architecture and geological conditions.

Portugal's 1775 earthquake is considered Europe's first modern natural disaster.

View a map of the world's major earthquakes from 1956 to 2022, which can be used to identify tectonic plate boundaries.

Reported earthquake magnitudes often change because initial values are based on limited information, whereas revised magnitudes account for factors such as fault size, rupture duration, and seismic wave behavior.

View the 10 biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history

Because the Richter scale was calibrated to crustal and mantle properties in Southern California, seismologists have instead used the moment magnitude scale to quantify earthquakes since the 1970s.

The strongest recorded geomagnetic storm in history created auroras near the equator

Although earthquakes cause about 80% of tsunamis, almost all earthquakes lack sufficient energy to cause the sudden shift in the ocean floor needed to substantially displace enormous volumes of water.

The world's largest earthquake simulator is an 800-ton shake table facility in Miki, Japan, which was built to test the resilience of structures after the 1995 Kobe earthquake killed over 6,000 people.

Why Turkey's earthquakes were so deadly

Could the world's largest solar storm happen again?

Micro-seismic activity has been produced from people cheering or dancing at sporting events, concerts, and other large gatherings, but scientists can easily distinguish these vibrations from natural earthquakes using seismometers.

From 1877 to 1878, the deadliest super El Niño event in history contributed to a global famine that killed more than 50 million people.

How the Turkish earthquake created a 100-mile rupture

As of 2026, the world's largest tropical cyclone was Typhoon Tip, whose size spanned the equivalent of half the continental US.

The Chernobyl disaster released more radioactive material than the Hiroshima bomb.

Some earthquakes can produce smaller tremors called boomerang earthquakes, which travel in the opposite direction and ripple back to the original earthquake's source.

Texas experienced the most natural disasters of any US state, with 372 natural disaster declarations from 1953 to 2025.

Standard home insurance doesn't typically cover earthquakes.

What is the Cascadia subduction zone?

There have been five mass extinction events in Earth's history

The list of historic volcanic eruptions includes the 1883 blast from Krakatau, which killed more than 36,000 and was the first such event to be documented in real time, thanks to the telegraph.

Tectonic earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates sliding past one another at fault zones, deforming rock through friction as energy builds like a stretched rubber band.

Detonating the largest nuclear weapon ever tested in the Mariana Trench would create a pulsating energy bubble that would be largely unnoticed on the surface.

Explore an interactive map of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis from 2150 BCE to the present.

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid larger than Mount Everest struck Earth off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and wiped out at least 75% of all species, including nearly all dinosaurs.

View the past month of earthquakes worldwide with this digital globe, which displays data from the US Geological Survey.

From 1610 BCE to 2025 CE, at least 250 of the over 3,000 confirmed tsunamis were deadly, and the 2004 Indonesia tsunami was the deadliest, with over 227,000 casualties.

In 1962, the US detonated a nuclear weapon in space, which produced an electromagnetic pulse that disabled three low Earth orbit satellites and damaged electrical equipment in Hawaii.

Supervolcanoes can eject enough material to fill one-fourth of the Grand Canyon

Hurricane Helene dumped enough water to fill Lake Tahoe

What makes the Earth shake?

Earth Day has become the largest civic event in the world

Explore an interactive time-lapse of reported tsunami events since 1850, with identified cause, recorded observations, known deaths, and other information available for each.

Mount Everest may be considered the tallest mountain on Earth, but the summit of Ecuador's Mount Chimborazo is more than a mile further away from Earth's center than the top of Everest.

Rather than predicting them in advance, earthquake early warning systems detect tremors moments after they begin and send notifications that reach users before the seismic activity does.

The Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested

Supermountains the size of the continental US may have sparked complex life on Earth

Within an 18-hour period in 1974, 13 states were hit by 148 tornadoes

How powerful was the volcanic blast that destroyed parts of ancient Rome?

Thunderquakes—seismic waves created when lightning strikes the ground—have enabled scientists to image underground environments near Earth's surface by detecting vibrations along subterranean fiber-optic cables.

Machu Picchu, 101

Rather than being triggered by a massive displacement of water from a geological event, meteotsunamis are caused by rapid changes in air pressure from fast-moving weather systems.

Mapping the Tongan eruption impact

The 'Elephant's Foot' in Chernobyl is part of the largest documented mass of corium