13 January 2001:
El Salvador is devasted by an earthquake measuring between 7.6 and 7.9 on the Richter scale. More than 700 people die.
16 November 2000:
An earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale shakes Papua New Guinea, triggering at least one tidal wave.
6 October 2000:
An earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, injured 30 people and damaged about 200 homes in Japan.
21 September 1999:
Taiwan is hit by a quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, killing nearly 2,500 people and causing damage to every town in the island.
7 September 1999:
The northern suburbs of the Greek capital Athens are hit by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale.
17 August 1999:
An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale rocks the Turkish cities of Izmit and Istanbul, leaving more than 17,000 dead and many more injured.
March 1999:
Uttar Pradesh in northern India is hit by two earthquakes in as many days, killing more than 100.
January 1999:
A shock measuring 6.0 kills up to 1,000 in the Colombian town of Armenia.
July 1998:
More than 1,000 are killed after a tsunami or sea wave, caused by an undersea earthquake, wipes out communities on the north-western coast of Papua New Guinea.
June 1998:
Adana in south-eastern Turkey is shaken by an earthquake measuring 6.3 which claims 144 lives. A week later the same area suffers two strong aftershocks, leaving more than 1,000 people injured.
May 1998:
Northern Afghanistan is hit by a major earthquake, killing 4,000 people.
February 1997:
A quake measuring 5.5 tears apart rural areas of north-western Iran, killing 1,000 people. Three months later a stronger tremor, measuring 7.1, kills 1,560 in eastern Iran.
May 1995:
The far eastern island of Sakhalin is hit by a massive earthquake, measuring 7.5, which claims the lives of 1,989 Russians.
January 1995:
The Hyogo quake hits the city of Kobe in Japan, killing 6,430 people.
June 1994:
Around 1,000 people are killed by an earthquake and ensuing landslide in Colombia.
September 1993:
About 10,000 villagers are killed in western and southern India.
1990:
More than 40,000 people die in a tremor in the northern Iranian province of Gilan.
October 1989:
The Loma Prieta earthquake hits California, killing 68 people.
December 1988:
An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale devastates northwest Armenia, killing 25,000 people.
September 1985:
Mexico City is shaken by a huge earthquake which razes buildings and kills 10,000 people.
1980:
Hundreds are killed by tremors which ripple through southern Italy.
1976:
The Chinese city of Tangshan is reduced to rubble in a quake that claims up to 500,000 lives.
1964
An earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale kills 25 people in Prince William Sound in Alaska, and triggers a tsunami killing a further 110 people.
1960:
The world's strongest recorded earthquake devastates Chile, with a reading of 9.5 on the Richter scale. A tsunami 30ft (10m) high eliminates entire villages in Chile and kills 61 hundreds of miles away in Hawaii.
1950:
A violent land earthquake hits Assam in north-eastern India. The shock sent needles off seismographs but was officially logged as a 9.0 on the Richter scale.
1948:
The Fukui quake, centred in the East China Sea, devastates western Japan, killing 3,770.
1935:
Taiwan is hit by a tremor measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, which kills 3,276 people.
1931:
Britain's most violent earthquake, with its epicentre on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, is recorded at 5.5 on the Richter scale. There are few casualties.
1923:
The Great Kanto earthquake, with its epicentre just outside Tokyo, claims the lives of 142,800 people in the Japanese capital.
1906:
San Francisco is hit by a series of violent shocks which last up to a minute. Between 700 and 3,000 people die either from collapsing buildings or in the subsequent fire.