The magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck off the northeast coast of Japan today and triggered massive tsunami waves in the Pacific is one of the strongest temblors in over a century.
The Associated Press reported Friday that the intense quake, which left hundreds dead after spawning a 23-foot tsunami in Japan, is among the top five strongest earthquakes since 1900, based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology and the World Health Organization's International Disaster Database.
The quake follows Dec. 2004's magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which set off an Indian Ocean tsunami and killed 230,000 people in 12 countries.
A magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska in March 1964 also gave way to a tsunami, killing 131 people.
In May 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile and a resulting tsunami left at least 1,716 dead.
A magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka triggered 30-foot waves in Hawaii, but there were no deaths reported, according to AP.
Friday's earthquake in Japan was significantly more powerful than the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that all but leveled Haiti in January 2010.
http://www.thirdage.com/news/89-earthquake-japan-among-most-powerful-tremors-1900_3-11-2011
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