Where did the world's largest recorded earthquake occur?

When Mother Nature decides to strike, the results are devastating for humanity and nature itself as well. The first reported earthquake occurred in 1769 in California. Approximately 500 thousand detectable earthquakes occur in the world every year.

The largest recorded earthquake in history is called the Great Chilean earthquake. It occurred on the 22nd of May, 1960 in Valdivia (a city in southern Chile). The greatest quake ever accurately recorded by mankind lasted approximately 10 minutes, but affected different regions around the world: from southern Chile to Australia.

Of course, some other earthquakes in human history may have been more powerful and destructive than this one, but the accurate estimates of magnitude became possible only in the early 1900's. That's why the event is also widely known as the "largest earthquake of the 20th Century".

The exact number of people killed by this terrible quake is unknown. It varies from 1,000 to 6,000 people.