Richter Scale Day celebrates the birth of the inventor of the Richter Scale. Born on April 26, 1900, American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) invented the Richter Scale in 1935.
The Richter Scale measures the amount of energy released by an earthquake by measuring the magnitude or seismic waves produced by an earthquake. The Richter Scale measures from 0 to 9. On the scale, each increase in number represents an earthquake 10 times more powerful. At 4.5 an earthquake can damage buildings and structures. At 7 on the Richter scale, severe and catastrophic damage can occur.
Deadliest/ Strongest Earthquakes:
August 24, 70: Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum. Thousands killed.
January 23, 1556: Shaanxi province, China. Deadliest earthquake in history kills 830,000 people.
April 18, 1906: The famous San Francisco earthquake and fire. 7.8 on the Richter scale.
December 16, 1920: Gansu province, 200,000 killed. 8.6 on the Richter scale.
September 1, 1923: Tokyo and Yokahoma, Japan. 8.3 magnitude earthquake destroys 1/3 of Tokyo and most of Yokohama. Over 140,000 killed.
May 22, 1927: Xining, China: 8.3 magnitude earthquake, approximately 200,000 killed.
May 22, 1960: Strongest earthquake ever recorded, at 9.5 magnitude, occurs off the coast of Chile.
In 1964, Alaskan earthquake measured 8.4.
Feb. 9, 1971 - Sylmar Earthquake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale
Jan 17, 1994 - Northridge Earthquake 6.7
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