Largest Earthquakes Ever Recorded
Source:
Wikipedia
Key Findings
🏆
Valdivia, Chile 1960 leads in Magnitude (Mw) with 9.50 in 2011.
📅
1960 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.
↔️
Gap in 2011: Valdivia, Chile 1960 is 1.1× larger than Alaska (Rat Islands) 1965.
About This Dataset
Largest Earthquakes Ever Recorded
The most powerful earthquakes in recorded history, measured by moment magnitude scale (Mw). The 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded at Mw 9.5, releasing energy roughly equivalent to 25,000 atomic bombs and generating a tsunami that caused damage across the Pacific Ocean.
Analysis
Valdivia, Chile 1960 (9.50), Alaska (Prince William) 1964 (9.20) and Indian Ocean (Sumatra) 2004 (9.10) take the top three in Magnitude (Mw) in 2011. Values run from 9.50 at the top to 8.70 at the bottom in Magnitude (Mw), a spread of 0.80. First and second are separated by 0.30, so the leader sits inside the field rather than apart from it. Below the top two the field is tightly packed: the remaining 6 run from 9.10 down to 8.70 Magnitude (Mw).
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia
- Coverage
- 8 entities · 1906–2011 (8 years) · 8 observations
- Measure
- Magnitude (Mw)
- Last updated
- 6 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Missing years are left empty rather than estimated — no interpolation, no carrying a previous year forward.
- Change is measured between the first and last year in which an entity actually reported a value, so a series that starts late is not penalised for the years before it existed.
- The compound annual rate is (last ÷ first)^(1 ÷ years) − 1, using those same two reported years.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2011.
- An entity that reported nothing in the latest year is still listed — it follows the ranked entities in the table rather than being dropped.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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