There are an estimated 500 000 earthquakes per year worldwide, 100 000 of them can be felt and only 100 cause damage.
The largest recorded earthquake in the USA was in 1964 in Prince William Sound in Alaska. It recorded 9.2 on the Richter scale.
There is no government or organization that can accurately predict earthquakes.
Each year southern California has 10 000 earthquakes, only 15-20 measure more than 4.0 on the Richter scale.
The world deadliest earthquake happened in 1556 in China where 830 000 people were killed
Alaska is the state most prone to earthquakes in the USA
Earthquakes are caused by shift plates underneath the earth' surface caused by pulses of energy emitted from the core of the earth.
Earthquakes are measured in the Richter scale (aka local magnitude scale)
Earthquakes measuring under 3 on the Richter scale are not felt, between 5-6 damage can be caused to poorly constructed buildings but only minor damage to well constructed buildings.
6 and above can be devastating to areas from a radius of 100 kilometers to several thousand kilometers.
Earthquakes above 9 happen on average once every 20 years
Earthquakes between 8 and 9 happen on average once per year
The largest recorded earthquake was in 1960 in Chile and recorded 9.5 on the Richter scale.
The highest number of deaths from an earthquake in the USA was the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 where 3000 died, many of these though were killed in the fire.
The second highest number of fatalities in the USA is 165 in 1946 in Alaska
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