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The world's largest quakes since 1900

This is a table of the largest recorded earthquakes since 1900 for which moment magnitude is known. Moment magnitude, which was devised in 1977, measures large earthquakes more accurately than the conventional Richter magnitude, which was devised by American seismologist Charles F Richter in 1935.

Year  Location                                Magnitude

1906  Ecuador                                     8.8
1922  Central Chile                               8.5
1923  Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia                 8.5
      Kanto Plain, Japan                          7.9
1932  Jalisco, Mexico                             8.1
1933  Pacific Ocean floor, near Japan             8.4
1938  Banda sea floor, near Indonesia             8.5
      Pacific Ocean floor, near Alaska            8.2
1944  Southern Honshu, Japan                      8.1
1946  Pacific Ocean floor, near Japan             8.1
1949  Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia   8.1
1950  Arunachal Pradesh, India                    8.6
1951  Southeastern Tibet                          7.5
1952  Tokachi-Oki, Hokkaido Island, Japan         8.1
      Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia                 9.0
1957  Aleutian Islands                            9.1
      Southwestern Mongolia                       8.1
1958  Kuril Islands                               8.3
1960  Southern Child                              9.5
1963  Kuril Islands                               8.5
1964  Southern Alaska                             9.2
1965  Aleutian Islands                            8.7
1968  Pacific Ocean floor, near Japan             8.2
1977  Sumbawa Island, Indonesia                   8.3
1989  South Pacific Ocean floor, near
      Macquarie Island, Australia                 8.2
1991  Southern California                         7.5
1994  Kuril Islands                               8.3
      Northwestern Bolivia                        8.2
1996  Irian Jaya, Indonesia                       8.2
2001  Gujarat, India                              7.9

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