What was the biggest earthquake recorded in history?

Question

And also, how long do earthquakes usually last?

Answer 1

It was a 9.1 in Chile in 1960. There were numerous aftershocks and foreshocks for days before and after the main quake.

An earthquake usually lasts a few seconds but a major one could be as long as a few minutes.

The second largest was the Good Friday quake in Anchorage Alaska in 1964. It was a 9.0

Answer 2

The largest earthquake recorded since 1900 was a 9.5 on 1960 May 22 19:11:14 UTC in Chile. It was a subduction zone earthquake.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/worl...

The USGS has a page devoted to cataloging this information, including historical earthquakes back to the 800s AD. It's very interesting. Check it out:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqar...

The duration of an earthquake varies significantly due to magnitude, depth, distance away from epicenter, etc.

Answer 3

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean Earthquake of 22 May 1960 is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5

It occurred in the early afternoon (19:11 UTC, 4:11 PM local time) and its resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, south east Australia and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

he epicenter was near Cañete (see map) some 700 km (435 miles) south of Santiago although Valdivia, Chile was the most affected city. It caused localised tsunamis that severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 metres (82 feet). The main tsunami raced across the Pacific Ocean and devastated Hilo, Hawaii. Waves as high as 10.7 metres (35 feet) were recorded 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) from the epicentre, and as far away as Japan and the Philippines.

The death toll and monetary losses arising from such a widespread disaster can never be precisely known. Various estimates of the total number of fatalities from the earthquake and tsunamis have been published, with the USGS citing studies with figures of 2231, 3000, or 5700 killed, and another source uses an estimate of 6000 dead.

Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from 400 million to 800 million US dollars(or 2.6 to 5.2 billion in 2005 dollars, adjusted for inflation.)