Earthquakes

Earthquakes Today - Earthquakes killed 88,070 people in 2008, the highest figure since 2004, reports the U.S. Geological Survey and the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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The year's strongest quake was in Sichuan, China, on May 12. At least 69,185 people died; 18,467 are missing and presumed dead, and 374,171 were injured in the magnitude 7.9 quake.

The deadliest year for earthquakes since the 1970s was 2004. That year, 228,802 people died as a result of quakes, the majority -- 227,898 -- in Asia after tsunami waves were generated by an undersea earthquake near Indonesia on Dec. 26.

The deadliest quake in the past four centuries was on Aug. 7, 1976, in Tangshan, China. Although the death figure was officially 255,000, the estimated death toll has been put as high as 655,000.

In 2008, killer quakes hit 13 other countries on four continents, including Algeria, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Peru, Russia and Rwanda.

The strongest quakes in the United States struck Alaska's Aleutian Islands on April 15 and May 1, both magnitude 6.6. The islands are sparsely populated and there was no damage.