Strongest earthquakes during the past century

PARIS - The massive earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Monday, which measured 8.7 on the Richter Scale according to the US Geological Survey, ranked among the 10 strongest in the past century:
- December 2004: a powerful undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, unleashed huge waves that killed more than 273,000 people on shorelines around the Indian Ocean.
- February 1965: An 8.7-magnitude quake struck Alaska's Rat Islands.
- March 1964: A 9.2-magnitude quake in Prince William Sound in Alaska, followed by tsunamis, claimed 125 lives.
- May 1960: A 9.5-magnitude quake in Chile followed by tsunamis caused devastation in many Pacific coast countries, killing more than 5,700 in Chile, 61 in Hawaii, and 130 in Japan.
- March 1957: A 9.1-magnitude quake rocked Alaska's Andreanof Islands and sparked tsunamis that hit as far away as Hawaii.
- November 1952: A 9.0-magnitude quake struck off the Soviet Kamchatka peninsula and generated tsunamis that reached as far away as Peru and Chile. More than 2,300 people were killed.
- August 1950: An 8.6-magnitude quake struck India's Assam region and Tibet, killing more than 1,500 people.
- February 1938: An 8.5-magnitude quake struck in the Banda Sea off Indonesia.
- February 1923: An 8.50-magnitude quake hit Kamchatka.
- January 1906: An 8.8-magnitude quake struck off the coast of Ecuador. The ensuing tsunamis killed more than 1,500 in Ecuador and Colombia.