Tania 21

Hi Everyone,
Here is some info about some of the biggest earthquakes in the world!
The largest earthquake measured 9.5 on the richter scale.Along the coast of Chile in 1960. The second largest was 9.2.Along the southern coast of Alaska in 1964.

What If an earthquake's strength was 9.9 what would happen?
A 9.9 earthquake would be 4/10 of a unit larger than that of Chile. The fault length would also be about 4 times longer, or 4,000 km. Although we don't expect an earthquake of this size, one of the places it might conceivably occur would be along the Aleutian/Alaska subduction zone. This would require the entire zone to rupture in one earthquake, which we don't think has ever happened. Such an earthquake would both cause strong shaking for 5 minutes or more as well as generate a large ocean wave (tsunami) that would travel at 800 km/hour across the entire Pacific Ocean. This wave could would have low amplitude over the open ocean but would grow in height as it reached shorelines and could cause a lot of damage to near shore facilities and homes.
Cheers Tania