Number of earthquakes, by country 1900-2016

From 1900 to 2016, China was the country with highest amount of earthquakes. Between that time period, they reported 157 earthquakes. Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, and Japan rounded out the top five countries with the most earthquakes. What causes earthquakes? When two tectonic plates, which make up the Earth’s crust, shift, it forces shock waves to shake the Earth’s surface, resulting in an earthquake. Earthquakes are measured are on the Richter scale, assessed on a scale of one to nine and higher. The earthquake in Chile in 1960 was the strongest earthquake worldwide, according to the Richter scale, with a magnitude of 9.5. Because earthquakes are not able to be predicted, they can cause more damage than other natural disasters which can be predicted. Earthquake effectsEarthquakes have caused a lot of physical damage and casualties. 2004 saw the highest global death toll due to earthquakes, with 298,101 casualties. As a result of this scale of damage, a lot of money goes into repair. For example, the January 17, 1994 California earthquake was the most expensive earthquake to the insurance industry in the United States. Not only did China have the highest number of earthquakes, it was also the country with the most natural disasters in 2018.

自1900年至2016年，我国在地震发生数量上位居世界各国之首。在此期间，共记录了157次地震。印度尼西亚、伊朗、土耳其和日本紧随其后，成为地震发生数量排名前五的国家。地震的成因何在？当地球外壳构成的两大板块发生位移时，会迫使地震波震动地球表面，从而引发地震。地震的强度以里氏震级来衡量，其评估范围从一至九级，甚至更高。根据里氏震级，1960年智利发生的地震是全球最强的地震，震级达到9.5。由于地震难以预测，其造成的破坏往往超过其他可预测的自然灾害。地震的影响地震造成了大量的物理损害和人员伤亡。2004年，全球因地震导致的死亡人数达到最高，共计298,101人。鉴于这种规模的破坏，大量资金被投入到了修复工作中。例如，1994年1月17日发生的加利福尼亚地震，成为美国保险业损失最严重的地震。我国不仅地震发生数量居首，而且在2018年也是自然灾害最为严重的国家。