What is the largest earthquake ever recorded?
1 Answer
Apr 26, 2015
The largest earthquake ever recorded was in Chile in 1960. It measured 9.5 and lasted ten minutes. Landslides and tsunamis were both triggered.
Stress built up between the subducting Nazca plate and the South American plate, and the release of this stress was the earthquake or megathrust earthquake. (A megathrust earthquake is when one plate (the subducting plate) suddenly slips or between the other.)
For a list of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, click here .
More on the 1960 earthquake here .
