events - geology and earthquakes;

17/2/2018, A magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred near Swansea. It was felt across England from the Isle of Wight to the Lake District.

12/11/2017, A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just after midnight close to Halabja near the Iran-Iraq border. At least 530 people were killed and 8,000 injured.

19/9/2017, A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit central Mexico, killing 248.

7/9/2017, The most powerful earthquake for more than a century struck Tapachula, southern Mexico. The magnitude 8.2 quake killed at least 96 people.

8/8/2017, A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Sichuan province, China, killing 19 and injuring 247.

21/7/2017, A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Bodrum, SW Turkey.

18/1/2017, Four further earthquakes of magnitudes 5.3, 5.7, 5.3 and 5.1 hit central Italy, close to the site of last year’s quakes. The epicentre was about 130 km NE of Rome, where the tremors were felt. The earthquake was blamed for a snow avalanche that killed 30 tourists at a hotel in eastern-central Italy.

30/10/2016, A magnitude 6.6 shallow (10km) earthquake hit central Italy; this was the 4^th significant quake there in four months. Further damage was done to historic buildings but no fatalities were reported.

24/8/2016, A shallow magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the Umbria region of central Italy.247 people were killed.

17/4/2016, A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Tonga.

16/4/2016, The second of two earthquakes hit Japan; the first was on 14/4/2016, magnitude 6.2, on the southern island of Kyushu; 44 died. The second quake was magnitude 7.0, also on Kyushu. Also on 16/4/2016 the most powerful quake for 70 years hit Ecuador, magnitude 7.8, killing over 500 and injuring 4,000.

6/2/2016, A shallow magnitude 6.4 quake hit Taiwan; 38 people died.

26/10/2015, A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, killing over 200 people.

12/5/2015, A second powerful earthquake hit Nepal. The 7.3 magnitude tremor struck 80 kilometres north east of Kathmandu, inuring over 1,000 people.

25/4/2015, Earthquake in Nepal killed 7,500 and injured 14,000. The magnitude 7.9 quake struck 80 kilometres north west of Kathmandu.

14/10/2014, A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit El Salvador and Nicaragua.

11/7/2014, A magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit Jersey, Channel Islands; the largest quake in the area since a 5.6 magnitude tremor hit Guernsey in 1926.

2/4/2014, A magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit just off the coast of northern Chile. Casualties were few as the resultant tsunami was small.

11/8/2013, Two magnitude 6.4 earthquakes hit Tabriz and Ahar, Iran, killing 153 people.

16/4/2013, Earthquake in Khash province, Iran, magnitude 7.8, killed 38.

9/4/2013, Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Iran, killing 37 people.

5/12/2012, A magnitude 5.8 earthquake in South Korea killed 6.

11/11/2012, A magnitude 6.8 earthquake killed 12 people in Myanmar.

7/11/2012, Magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Guatemala killed 48 people.

29/5/2012, A magnitude 5.9 earthquake killed 24 people near Bologna, Italy.

11/4/2012, A magnitude 8.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia.

6/2/2012, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the Philippines, killing 43 people.

23/10/2011, A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the city of Van, eastern Turkey.

23/8/2011, A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011, near Mineral. The earthquake was reportedly felt as far away as Toronto, Canada, Atlanta, Georgia and Florida

4/6/2011, Puyehue Volcano in Chile erupted, causing major flight chaos as far as Australia.

11/3/2011, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami. 15,340 people were killed, and a further 3,926 were missing. The nuclear plant at Fukushima was badly damaged.

22/2/2011, Christchurch, New Zealand, was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake; 185 people died.

26/10/2010, Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia began erupting.

25/10/2010, Earthquake off Sumatra killed 400 and caused a tsunami.

4/9/2010, Magnitude 7/.1 earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand.

14/4/2010, Mount Eyjafjallajokul in Iceland erupted; volcanic ash caused major disruption to European air travel.

13/4/2010, A 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Qinghai, China, killed over 2,000.

27/2/2010, A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile, killing 525.

12/1/2010, A 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the most severe in 200 years, hit Haiti, killing over 316,000 and destroying the capital, Port au Prince. Over 1,000,000 were left homeless.

29/9/2009, An 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit Samoa.

6/4/2009, Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit L’Aquila, Italy. 300 were killed and 1,500 injured.

29/10/2008, A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Quetta, Pakistan

6/10/2008, A magnitude 6.6 earthquake killed 65 in Kyrgzystan.

14/6/2008, A 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Iwate, Japan, killed 12 and injured 400.

12/5/2008, A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit Sichuan Province, central China, killing 156,000 people, and injuring 290,000. 5 million were made homeless.

14/11/2007, A magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit Tocopilla, northern Chile

15/8/2007, A magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Peru, killing 512 and injuring over 1,500.

28/4/2007, A magnitude 4.3 earthquake hit Folkestone, Kent, damaging around 200 houses.

2/4/2007, An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands. 52 died and 6,000 were left homeless.

27/5/2006, A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit central Java, killing over 6,000, injuring 36,000, leaving 1.5 million homeless.

4/11/2005, Severe aftershocks, up to 6.3 on the Richter Scale, hit northern Pakistan.

8/10/2005, A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Kashmir, killing around 74,000.

17/6/2005, A magnitude 6.7 earthquake, following on from a 5.3 quake the previous day, became the fourth quake since 12/6/2005 in California.

20/4/2005, A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Fukuoka and Kasuga, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan 56 people were injured.

28/3/2005, A magnitude 8.7 earthquake hit Sumatra, 3 months after the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. It was the second largest quake since 1965.

20/3/2005, A magnitude 7 earthquake struck west of Kyushu Island, Japan. 250 were injured and at least one died.

22/2/2005, A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit the Zarand region of Kermand Province, southern Iran, killing 50 and injuring 1,000.

26/12/2004, A very large earthquake struck the floor of the Indian Ocean just off Aceh Province, Indonesia. It was estimated as magnitude 9.3 on the Richter Scale, and shifted parts of the sea bed vertically by ten metres. It caused a very large tsunami to sweep across the Indian Ocean, causing at least 165,000 casualties. In January 2005 the Indonesian government raised its death toll to 166,320, bringing the total estimated number of casualties to 232,010. The confirmed death toll on 18/1/05 stood at 162,705, including 115,229 from Indonesia, 30,920 from Sri Lanka, 10,714 from India, 5,291 from Thailand, 298 from Somalia, 82 from the Maldives, 68 from Malaysia, 10 from Tanzania, 2 from Bangladesh, and 1 from Kenya. The secretive military regime in Burma reported just 90 deaths, a suspiciously low figure. Many tourists from Europe, who had been on winter holidays, died, including at least 400 Britons (possibly 2,000 Britons).

24/2/2004, A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco, near the city of Al Hoceima, killing over 400 there. A further 500 were killed in Ait Kamara.

26/12/2003. Earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit Bam, SE Iran. Over 25,000 killed and 30,000 injured.

14/8/2003, A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada, injuring 24.

21/5/2003, A major earthquake hit Algeria, killing over 2,000.

19/10/2002. A series of minor but noticeable earthquakes hit Manchester, causing some damage to roofs and chimneys.

25/3/2002, A major earthquake hit Afghanistan, killing 1,800.

17/1/2002, Mount Nyiragongo in the Congo erupted, displacing some 400,000 people.

28/2/2001, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the Nisqually Valley area of Washington State. One elderly person died of a heart attack.

13/2/2001, A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit El Salvador, killing at least 400.

26/1/2001, 25,000 were killed and one million left homeless by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in the western Indian city of Gujerat.

13/1/2001, A magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit El Salvador.

28/5/2000. The volcano Mount Cameroon erupted.

12/11/1999, A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Duzce, north-west Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4,948.

21/9/1999, Central Japan was hit by an earthquake; 2,400 were killed.

7/9/1999, A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Athens, killing 143 people and injuring over 2,000.

17/8/1999. 17,800 killed as an earthquake hit the Turkish cities of Izmit and Istanbul. The quake measured 7.4 on the Richter Scale. 17,000 were killed and 44,000 injured.

25/1/1999, A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit western California, killing over 1,000 people.

30/5/1998, A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan, killing 5,000 people.

14/3/1998, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit south eastern Iran.

4/2/1998, A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit north-east Afghanistan, killing over 5,000 people.

10/1/1998, An earthquake in China killed 50 and injured 10,000.

10/5/1997, An earthquake near Ardekul, north east Iran, killed over 2,400 people.

22/11/1995, A magnitude 7.2 quake hit Israel, Egypt, and was felt over much of the Mediterranean and North Africa.

8/7/1995, Volcanic eruption began on the island of Montserrat.

28/5/1995, Neftegorsk, Russia, was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed 2,000 people, 2/3 of the town’s population.

13/5/1995, A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the Greek Macedonian city of Kozani; nobody was injured.

17/1/1995. 5.46 am, local time, earthquake in Kobe, southern Japan, killed 6,433, and injured 27,000. The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale and made 300,000 homeless. Cost of damage was estimated at £63 billion. It was the worst quake to hit Japan since Tokyo, 1923.

17/1/1994. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Northridge in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

12/12/1993, An earthquake hit Flores, Indonesia, killing 2,200.

30/9/1993. Earthquake in southwest India killed 10,000.

12/7/1993, A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Hokkaido caused a major tsunami to hit Okushuri island, killing 202 people.

12/12/1992. An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit just offshore from Flores Island, Indonesia. At least 1,500 were killed as 80% of the buildings in the island’s capital, Maumere, were destroyed.

12/10/1992. Earthquake hit Cairo. It was 5.9 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre 19 miles from Cairo, tremors were felt in Jerusalem 250 miles away. There was panic as at least 160 buildings collapsed and many were trampled to death in the ensuing chaos. Fortunately the Aswan Dam was not breached.

28/6/1992. California had its strongest earthquake for 40 years. Measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, the epicentre was in a sparsely-populated area of the Mojave Desert, 100 miles from Los Angeles, and the only casualty was a child killed by a falling chimney.

13/4/1992, An earthquake rocked Roermond in The Netherlands, along the Peel fault.

13/3/1992. A major quake in eastern Turkey, 6.8 on the Richter scale, killed an estimated 1,000 people.

20/10/1991, Magnitude 7.0 earthquake in northern Italy, killed 2,000 people.

17/6/1991. Mount Pinatubo continued to erupt. On 24/6/1991 Mount Didicas, 280 miles north-east of Mount Pinatubo, also erupted, killing 343 people.

9/6/1991. Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. 500,000 people had to be evacuated as the USA’s biggest overseas air base, Clark Naval Base, was threatened. Manila was covered 30 cm deep in volcanic ash.

1/2/1991. An earthquake in Pakistan killed 1,500 people.

16/7/1990. A major earthquake hit the Philippines. Measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, it was the worst for 14 years. It hit 60 miles north of the capital, Manila. 1,600 people were killed.

21/6/1990. Earthquake hit Iran, 7.7 on the Richter scale, destroyed towns across 100 square miles of Gilan Province, NW Iran. Over 40,000 died and 100,000 were injured.

2/4/1990. An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale hit the UK.

28/12/1989, A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit Newcastle, New South Wales, killing 13 people and injuring 100.

18/10/1989. San Francisco was hit by the Loma Prieta earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale. At least 273 people were killed and 650 injured. Many of the deaths occurred when the top deck of the Nimitz Freeway collapsed onto a lower road deck, crushing motorists.

10/12/1988. Severe earthquake, 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit Armenia. 100,000 were reported to have died as the cities of Spitak and Leninakan were flattened. However the death toll was later reduced to 25,000. 15,000 were injured and 400,000 left homeless.

1/10/1987, A 20-second earthquake hit Los Angeles, killing 7 and injuring 100. The 6.1 magnitude quake hit the morning rush hour at 7.40 am, and was the strongest in the area since 1971.

10/10/1986, An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale hit San Salvador, killing some 1,500 people.

21/8/1986, Volcanic activity around Lake Nyos, Africa, caused nearly 2,000 people to die from CO₂ poisoning.

13/11/1985. Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano in Colombia, dormant since 1845, erupted, sending mudflows down into the town of Armero, killing almost all the population of 25,000.

30/9/1985, Charles Richter, the US seismologist who devised the Richter Scale, died.

19/9/1985, Major earthquake in Mexico resulted in 4,700 dead and 30,000 injured. The quake measured 8.1 on the Richter Scale, killing 9,000 people and injuring a further 30,000. 95,000 were made homeless. A second quake the following day hampered rescue operations.

24/2/1981, Just before 11am local time, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Athens. 16 people died, mainly due to heart attacks. The epicentre was in the eastern Corinthian Gulf, near the Alkyonides Islands, 60 km west of Athens. A further aftershock, magnitude 6.4, hit that afternoon, causing further damage in nearby towns.

23/11/1980, A series of earthquakes in southern Italy killed 4,800 people.

24/10/1980, A magnitude 6.4 earthqquake in Oaxaca, Mexico, killed 300.

11/10/1980, The Algerian city of El Asnam (formerly Orleansville) was hit by a major earthquake; 80% of the city was destroyed and 20,000 died. The magnitude 7.5 quake was felt as far away as Spain, where it cracked houses in Valencia. The previous quake here was in 1954.

18/5/1980. Mount St Helens volcano erupted in the USA state of Washington, killing 100 people and causing US$ 3 billion in damage. A cloud of ash 2,500 miles long and 1,000 miles wide was created.

16/9/1978. 25,000 died in a quake in Iran measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale around the town of Tabas.

20/6/1978, A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city. An apartment block in the central district of Ippodrome collapsed, killing over 40 people.

19/8/1977, Earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.

4/3/1977, Earthquake in Bucharest, magnitude 7.2, killed 1,500 people and injured 7,600.

24/11/1976. The Turkish province of Van was devastated by an earthquake, and 3,700 people were killed.

17/8/1976. In the Philippines a severe earthquake followed by tidal waves killed over 3,000 people.

28/7/1976. One of the greatest natural disasters of the 20^th century occurred when an earthquake, magnitude 7.8, hit Tangshan in China, killing 255,000 – 750,000 people. At least 164,000 were injured.

6/5/1976. Major earthquake in northern Italy killed 2,000.

4/2/1976. A major earthquake devastated parts of Guatemala and Honduras, killing over 23,000 people.

6/9/1975. A major earthquake in Lice, Turkey, killed nearly 3,000 people.

28/12/1974, An earthquake in northern Pakistan killed over 5,000 people.

11/5/1974. Big earthquake killed 20,000 in Sichuan, China.

28/8/1973. 500 killed in Mexican earthquake magnitude 6.2.

23/1/1973. 5,000 evacuated from the island of Heimay in Iceland as volcano erupted.

25/12/1972. In Managua, Nicaragua, over 10,000 people were killed in an earthquake.

10/4/1972. Earthquakes in Iran killed over 3,000 people.

5/4/1971, A 70-day eruption of Mount Etna, lasting until 14/6/1971, began.

10/2/1971, An earthquake, 6.6 on the Richter Scale, hit Los Angeles, killing 51 people.

31/5/1970. A major earthquake, magnitude 7.5, at Mount Huascaran in Peru, killed 70,000 people.

2/9/1968. A major earthquake in Iran killed over 20,000 people.

29/7/1967,An earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela killed 240.

19/8/1966, Earthquake in eastern Turkey killed 2,000.

3/5/1965, Major earthquake hit San Salvador City, El Salvador.

28/3/1965. Major earthquake in Chile.

6/7/1964, Magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Guerrero, Mexico, killing 78.

27/3/1964, Powerful earthquake, magnitude 9.2, hit southern Alaska, 300 died.

14/11/1963. The island of Surtsey, off Iceland, was born as an undersea volcano erupted.

26/7/1963. Big earthquake hit Skopje, Yugoslavia, killing 1,100. 150,000 were left homeless.

17/3/1963. A volcano erupted in Bali, killing 11,000.

1/9/1962, Severe earthquake hit Iran, killing 20,000.

10/10/1961, A volcanic eruption on the southern Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha forced the evacuation of the entire population to Britain.

21/5/1960, Conception, Chile, was hit by an earthquake that killed 1,000 people and damaged 145,000 buildings,

28/2/1960. Agadir, Morocco, was devastated by an earthquake, killing 12,000.

28/7/1957, Magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Guerrero, Mexico, killing 65.

22/3/1957. San Francisco was hit by the worst earthquake since the 1906 disaster.

9/9/1954. Earthquake in Algeria killed 1,500 in the city of Orleansville.

21/1/1951, Mount Lamington, Papua New Guinea, erupted; at the time it was not realised that it was an extinct volcano. 3,000 died as hot ash clouds smothered the area.

1/4/1946, Major earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.

15/1/1944, Major earthquake hit San Juan province, Argentina.

2/1943, A new volcano appeared at Paracutin, Mexico, erupting through cornfiuelds and growing to a height of 820 feet.

26/12/1939, 40,000 killed in Erzincan, Turkey, by a magnitude 8.0 quake.

24/1/1939. In Chile, a major earthquake killed 30,000 in two cities.

1935, The Richter Scale for measuring the intensity of earhbquakes was devised by US geologist Charles Richter.

30/5/1935. More than 50,000 died in a magnitude 7.6 quake in Quetta (then India, now Pakistan).

2/10/1934, A magnitude 6 earthquake hit San Francisco, USA.

26/12/1932, Earthquake in China killed 70,000.

3/6/1932, Magnitude 8.1 earthquake in Jalisco, Mexico, killed 400.

3/2/1932. A severe earthquake hit New Zealand killing 256 people around Hawke’s Bay. Napier’s Bluff Hill, a substantial suburban peninsula, crumbled into the sea. A wide stretch of seabed, Ahuriri Lagoon, was raised in the quake and became 9,000 acres of dry land in a day.

7/6/1931, Earthquake felt across Britain.

5/11/1928. Mount Etna erupted.

22/4/1928. Earthquake in Corinth left 50,000 homeless.

22/5/1927, Earthquake in China killed 200,000.

27/11/1926. Vesuvius erupted.

1/9/1923. An earthquake magnitude 7.9 in Japan left the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in ruins and killed over 300,000 people. The epicentre was just outside Tokyo. Half of Tokyo’s houses were destroyed, a million of its people made homeless, and 132,807 killed in Tokyo alone. Altogether 143,000 died and 2.5 million were made homeless.

15/6/1923. Earthquake in Iran killed 20,000.

16/12/1920. Earthquake in Kamsu, China, killed 180,000.

3/1/1920, Earthquake magnitude 7.8 in Vera Cruz, Mexico, killed 648.

11/10/1918, In Puerto Rico a major earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale.

1916, A Michelson, US scientist, determined that the Earth has a molten core.

1915, In Germany, Alfred Wegener published his theory of drifting continental plates. Initially, nobody else believed an entire continent could move. Evidence for Wegener’s theory emerged in the 1950s and 60s when fossil magnetism was observed in rocks, with a different alignment to today.

13/1/1915. An earthquake killed 20,000 in central Italy.

9/5/1914. Earthquake killed over 150 in Catania, Italy.

9/8/1912. Earthquake in Constantinople, Turkey, killed 6,000.

6/6/1912, A huge volcanic eruption began at Mount Katmai, Alaska, creating the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

11/10/1911. Earthquake in California killed 700.

7/6/1911. A severe earthquake shook Mexico City, killing over 100.

5/5/1910. Earthquake in Nicaragua killed 500.

27/3/1910. Mount Etna in Italy erupted.

30/7/1909, Earthquake in Mexico; Acapulco destroyed.

11/6/1909. Earthquake killed 60 in Provence, France.

28/12/1908. An earthquake killed more than 75,000 people in Messina, Sicily, over half the population. This was the most violent earthquake ever recorded in Europe.

14/1/1907. Major quake hit Kingston, Jamaica. Most of the city was destroyed and over 1,000 died. On 22/1/1907 the islands British Governor rejected an offer of food and medical aid from the US navy.

16/8/1906. Severe earthquake killed hundreds in Chile.

18/4/1906. Major earthquake hit San Francisco. Over 1,000 people were killed and large fires threatened upmarket homes on Nob Hill, after the water mains were destroyed in the quake. Overall, 3,000 acres of the city were devastated. The fire did more damage than the quake, it took 3 days to bring the blaze under control and 490 blocks were destroyed.

7/4/1906. Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the town of Ottaiano. Hundreds died. Over 105 were killed when the church of San Guiseppe collapsed in Naples. The weight of ash killed many more as roofs collapsed.

9/9/1905. Severe earthquake killed thousands in Calabria, Italy.

4/4/1905. An earthquake in Lahore, India, killed 12,000 people.

28/5/1903. Earthquake in Constantinople killed 2,000 people.

29/4/1903. Earthquake in Van, Turkey, killed 860.

16/12/1902, An earthquake in Turkestan killed 4,000.

24/10/1902, The Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala began a 2-day eruption.

8/5/1902. Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted, destroying the city of St Pierre and killing 30,000 people in just three minutes.

25/4/1902, A heavy fall of ash from Mont Pelee, Martinique, occurred. This was a prelude to the major eruption of 8/5/1902.

17/1/1902. Earthquake in Mexico City killed 300.

26/4/1900, Charles Richter, seismologist who created the earthquake scale, was born.

12/6/1897, A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Assam, NE India. 1,542 were killed as a plateau in Shillong district suddenly rose 15 metres, throwing boulders, gravestones and even people into the air.

15/6/1896, A tsunami created a 100 foot that struck Sanriku, Japan, killing 26,000 along 170 miles of coastline.

28/10/1891, A severe earthquake hit Osaka, Japa; 10,000 were killed.

13/3/1888, Volcanic eruption on Ritter Island (New Guinea), causing a large tsunami and obliterating most of the island itself.

1886, Earthquake hit Charleston.

22/4/1884. A great earthquake hit Colchester and parts of East Anglia. 1,200 buildings were damaged, and 4 people killed.

1883, Earthquake hit Ischia, 2,000 died.

27/8/1883. Krakatoa, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, erupted. Thousands were killed by the resulting tsunamis. In all over 50,000 died as noon turned to darkness and a tidal wave flooded 120 feet high. The eruption was allegedly heard 2,200 miles away in Australia. The eruption caused spectacular red sunsets in Britain for several weeks afterwards.

1880, Earthquake hit Manila, 3,000 died.

16/5/1875, Earthquake affected Colombia and Venezuela; 16,000 killed.

4/1872, Mount Vesuvius erupted.

21/10/1868, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake, causing US$3million damage.

13/8/1868, A major earthquake killed over 25,000 people and devastated four cities in Peru and Ecuador.

3/2/1864, Severe earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines.

20/3/1861, The city of Mendoza, Argentina, was destroyed in an earthquake; 12,000 died.

22/3/1859. Major earthquake at Quito,5,000 killed.

21/2/1858, Corinth, Greece, was destroyed by an earthquake.

1757, Earthquake in Calabria, 10,000 killed.

21/3/1857, Earthquake in Japan killed 107,000.

1855, Earthquake hit New Zealand.

7/7/1855, Earthquake in Shiraz, northern Iran killed 40,000 people.

1829, Severe earthquake hit Murcia, Spain.

28/12/1828, Earthquake at Echigo, Japan, killed 30,000.

1824, Earthquake in Shiraz, Iran, killede 4,000 people.

1822, Earthquake at Aleppo, 22,000 dead.

10/4/1815, After five days of volcanic eruptions, Mount Tambora exploded. The top 500 metres of the mountain vanished, and a 6 kilometre wide crater appeared. By July 1815 60,000 had died from the effects of the eruption, and summer 1816 was very cool, bringing starvation, riots and disease.

1812, Much of Shiraz, Iran, was destroyed by an earthquake.

26/12/1812. A severe earthquake hit Barquismeto, a city in western Venezuela.

12/3/1812. A severe earthquake hit Caracas, capital of Venezuela.

6/12/1811. A severe earthquake hit the Mississippi Valley.

4/2/1797, Major earthquake hit Riobamba, Ecuador, 41,000 dead.

1783, Earthquake in Calabria, 60,000 dead.

8/6/1783, The Laki Volcano in Iceland erupted; the world’s largest volcanic eruption. One fifth of Iceland’s inhabitants, over 10,000 people, died as a 28km long fissure opened up, from which lava covered an area of 570 square kilometres. Some 12-15 cubic kilometres of lava were ejected. Deaths were from poisonous gases then from famine and disease as three quarters of Iceland’s livestock also perished. England faced very cold weather from June to December.

7/6/1773, Guatemala City was destroyed by an earthquake.

23/2/1770, Izalco Volcano, El Salvador, began an eruption that lasted for several decades.

1/11/1755. An earthquake reduced two thirds of Lisbon to rubble, killing 60,000 people. Lisbon had been a great city with a population of about a quarter of a million. The quake has been estimated at Richter 9, and caused cracks as wide as 5 metres in the ground to open. Further destruction was caused when a 6 metre high tsunami struck, drowning many who had sought refuge on ships in the harbour. Fire then destroyed many more buildings. Striking on All Saints Day, the quake caused many to be sceptical of God’s existence, and the event spurred research into natural causes for disasters rather than Acts of God, laying the foundations for the Enlightenment.

23//8/1750, An earth tremor was felt in Spalding. On 2/3/1750 an earth tremor had been felt in London, and on 2/4/1750 another tremor was felt in Warrington.

28/10/1746, An earthquake destroyed the towns of Lima and Callao in Peru.

11/10/1737, An earthquake killed 300,000 in Calcutta.

1724, Earthquake at Lima, 18,000 dead.

1707, The last eruption of Mount Fujiyama, to date.

3/11/1706, (-87,103) A severe earthquake hit Abruzzi, Italy, destroying the town and killing 15,000 of its inhabitants.

30/12/1703, In Japan, an earthquake and the resultant fires killed 200,000 people in Edo.

14/2/1703, An earthquake hit Norcia, Italy.

2/2/1703, An earthquake hit the town of L’Aquila, Italy.

11/1/1693, Mount Etna erupted; a large earthquake affected Sicily and Malta; with 60,000 dead.

1692, Earthquake in Jamaica. 3,000 killed,

11/3/1669, Mount Etna, Sicily, erupted, killing 20,000.

25/11/1667, Earthquake at Samakhi, Azerbaijan.

16/12/1631, Major eruption of Vesuvius killed 18,000 people.

19/2/1600, The volcano Huaynaputina in South America underwent a violent eruption, the worst recorded in South America.

6/4/1580, An earth tremor damaged several old London churches, including the old St Paul’s Cathedral.

16/12/1575, A large earthquake at Valdivia.

2/11/1570. A tidal wave in the North Sea destroyed sea walls from Holland to Jutland; over a thousand were killed.

23/1/1556. An earthquake in China’s Shanxi province killed an estimated 830,000 people.

15/2/1549, Major earthquake hit Qayin, Iran, killing 3,000.

25/2/1531. A severe earthquake killed an estimated 20,000 people in Lisbon.

10/9/1509, Istanbul earthquake destroyed 109 mosques and killed an estimated 10,000 people.

18/10/1356, Basel, Switzerland, was badly damaged by an earthquake.

8/8/1303, An earthquake destroyed the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the world.

26/5/1293, An earthquake in Kamakura, Japan killed an estimated 30,000.

27/9/1290, An earthquake in the Gulf of Chili, province of Hebei, China, killed an estimated 100,000.

1268, Earthquake in Silicia, Turkey, killed an estimated 60,000.

11/5/1222, Earthquake in Cyprus.

20/5/1202, An earthquake in Syria.

7/1201, Severe earthquake hit the eastern Mediterranean, killing an estimated 1.1 million people.

4/2/1169, An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of around 7 struck the eastern coast of Sicily, causing an estimated 15,000 deaths.

11/10/1138, An earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, killed about 230,000 people.

19/9/1119, Severe earthquake in Gloucestershire & Warwickshire, England.

11/8/1089, A powerful earthquake was recorded in Britain.

964, Earliest recorded earthquake in Britain.

939, Major volcanic eruption in Iceland, affected climate and crops worldwide.

26/5/869, An earthquake and tsunami devastated a large part of the Sanriku coast near Sendai, Japan.

22/12/856, Earthquake in Danghan, Iran, killed 200,000.

9/3/757, A major earthquake struck Palestine and Syria.

18/1/749, A severe earthquake hit Palestine.

26/10/740, An earthquake struck Constantinople.

24/12/717, An earthquake shook many places in northern Syria, and destroyed the Old Church of Edessa.

28/2/714, An earthquake struck Syria.

26/11/684, A great earthquake struck Japan.

7/5/558, In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapsed due to an earthquake. Emperor Justinian I ordered the dome to be rebuilt.

551, Major earthquake in Beirut; 250,000 dead.

29/11/539, Antioch was struck by an earthquake.

6/11/447, The walls of Constantinople were severely damaged by an earthquake, destroying large parts of the wall, including 57 towers. The population was threatened by a plaque. Emperor Theodosius II ordered Constantine, praetorian prefect of the East, to supervise the repairs. He employed the city's demoi ("Circus factions") in the work and rebuilt the walls within 60 days.

21/7/365, An earthquake and tsunami devastated Crete and Alexandria and affected Italy, Greece, and Palestine.

103, According to local tradition, a major earthquake occurred in Somerset, England, causing an entire town (name unknown) to be swallowed up.

25/8/79, Pliny the Elder, naturalist, died, in the eruption of Vesuvius.

24/8/79. Vesuvius erupted, destroying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing 2,000 people.