1556: Shaanxi, China 明代陕西大地震
Thedeadliest quake of all time might be one of the least talked about,considering it occurred nearly 450 years ago.The 1556 quake claimed the lives of some 830,000 people. Why the massive death toll? Blame the quake's strength (8.0 on the Richter scale, or more than 30 times more powerful than the recent quake inHaiti) as well as timing and location. The pre-modern structures were utterly unable to withstand a quake of such force, and massive landslides contributed to the casualties。
