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The most powerful earthquake ever recorded, registering approximately 9.5 Mw, struck near Valdivia, Chile, generating tsunamis that reached Hawaii and Japan.
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1960 Valdivia earthquake
9.4–9.6 magnitude earthquake in Chile
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami or the Great Chilean earthquake occurred on 22 May 1960. Most studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale, making it the strongest earthquake ever recorded, while some studies have placed the magnitude lower than 9.4.…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Moment magnitude scale
Measure of earthquake size, in terms of the energy released
The moment magnitude scale is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude based on its seismic moment. Mw was defined in a 1979 paper by Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori. Similar to the local magnitude/Richter scale (ML ) defined by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, it uses a…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Valdivia
City in Chile
Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately 15 km (9 mi) east of the…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Tsunami
Series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water
A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)