Earthquakes are something that most people fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Some places, like Iran and Guatemala have them frequently. Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.
The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 500 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska. Some earthquakes are not always tile ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 20,000 people died.
In 1923, a very powerful earthquake hit the Tokyo-Yokohana area of Japan. A hundred and forty thousand people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.
One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 1976. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China. 400,000 people were killed or injured in this quake, which happened in 1556.
Earthquakes are not the only acts of nature which people fear. Floods and tidal waves also cause people to be afraid. So do bad storms like typhoons and cyclones. Sometimes these things cause lots of deaths. In 1970, a cyclone and tidal wave killed over 200,000 people in Pakistan.
These kinds of things make people afraid and they are very dangerous. But they probably do not worry people as much as earthquakes, especially in these modern times. The reason is that we often know they are coming, we have some warning. Someday we may be able to know an earthquake is coming. So far, however, no sure way is known to predict an earthquake. When one comes, it is a surprise. People can not prepare for it.