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What is the strongest earthquake in a city?

On November 1, 1755, what is thought to be the strongest earthquake to strike an urban area occurred in Lisbon, Portugal. Although no one knows for certain, the quake may have registered 9.0 on the Richter scale. (Used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake, the Richter scale has graded steps beginning with one and ending with ten; each step is about 60 times greater than the preceding step.) More than 60,000 people died and Lisbon was destroyed. People felt tremors as far away as Sweden, and the quake caused a tidal wave in the Atlantic Ocean, hitting the West Indies (a group of islands between North America and South America).

Further Information: Dixon, Dougal. Natural Disasters. New York: Reader's Digest Books, 1997, pp. 34–51; Earthquakes. [Online] Available

eNotes Pass

1. Natural Disasters
   1. What are the largest volcanic eruptions in history?
   2. What were the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history?
   3. What is the strongest earthquake measured?
   4. What is the strongest earthquake in a city?
   5. What was the most damaging earthquake in history?
   6. How disastrous was the San Francisco earthquake?
   7. How often have tidal waves happened?
   8. Has a tidal wave ever hit the United States?
   9. What were the deadliest tropical storms in the world?
   10. What was the worst hurricane in U.S. history?
   11. Which hurricane caused the most damage?
   12. How long have hurricanes had names?
   13. Which country has the worst floods?
   14. When was the Johnstown Flood?
   15. What were the harshest blizzards to hit the United States?
   16. What was the Dust Bowl and what effect did it have?
   17. What were the worst famines in history?
   18. How much damage was done by the Great Fire of London?
2. Man-Made Disasters
   1. Was the Chicago fire really started by a cow?
   2. What was the impact of the fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas?
   3. What happened at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
   4. What is the true story of the Titanic?
   5. Was the Titanic the most disastrous shipwreck in history?
   6. What effect did the sinking of the Titanic have?
   7. What happened to the Hindenburg?
   8. What is the worst airplane crash in history?
   9. What happened to the spacecraft Apollo 13?
   10. Why did the space shuttle Challenger explode?
   11. What was Love Canal?
   12. What happened at Three Mile Island?
   13. What was the worst industrial accident in world history?
   14. What caused the nuclear accident at Chernobyl?
   15. Was the World Trade Center bombing really part of a larger terrorist plan?
   16. Was the Oklahoma City bombing the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil?