California has a history of deadly earthquakes, but many regions of the United States have suffered equally violent temblors, including Alaska, Massachusetts and Missouri.
The great San Francisco quake and fire of April 18, 1906, killed more than 700 people, while a quake in Long Beach, Calif., on March 10, 1933, killed 115, and a temblor in San Fernando, Calif., on Feb. 9, 1971, claimed 65 lives, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
'Many people assume that earthquakes are primarily confined to the West Coast when, in fact, more than 70 million Americans in 44 states are at some risk from earthquakes,' the Federal Emergency Management Agency warns.
'Three of the most severe U.S. earthquakes occurred not on the West Coast, but in the East and Midwest -- in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886; at Cape Anne, Massachusetts, in 1775; and in New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811-1812,' the agency said.
The most famous U.S. quake outside of California struck Prince William Sound, Alaska, on Good Friday, March 27, 1964, registering a magnitude of 8.4 on the Richter scale -- the second strongest in the world in the 20th century.
'The Alaska earthquake triggered extensive landsliding and generated a tsunami,' a huge wave, the U.S. Geological Survey said. 'It caused an estimated $311 million in damage in Anchorage and south-central Alaska and killed 131 people.'
The most violent series of earthquakes to rock the nation, however, struck between 1811 and 1812 along the New Madrid fault in Missouri. There were reports it caused church bells to toll in Washington, D.C.
'Three earthquakes hit the New Madrid seismic zone in southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas December 16, 1811, and January 23 and February 7, 1812, at estimated magnitudes of 8.4 to 8.7,' the geological survey said.
'Damage and casualties were not great because the area was sparsely populated, but the earthquakes were felt over the entire United States east of the Mississippi River and probably far to the west,' the survey said. 'The earthquakes caused extensive changes in the surface of the land.'
Other major U.S. quakes:
-Cape Ann, Mass., Nov. 18, 1755: Centered 200 miles east of Cape Ann, this earthquake of magnitude 6.0 was felt over 400,000 square miles, from Nova Scotia to the Chesapeake Bay and from Lake George, N.Y., east to the Atlantic seaboard. Reported damage: 100 chimneys in Cape Ann and Boston.
-Charleston, S.C., Aug. 31, 1886: Sixty people died in an earthquake measuring 6.6. Most buildings in Charleston were destroyed. There was $20 million in damage. The quake was felt from Milwaukee to Havana.
-Charleston, Mo., Oct. 31, 1895: This quake struck with a 6.2 magnitude near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and was felt in 23 states over 1 million square miles in the strongest quake in the New Madrid seismic region since the quakes of 1811 and 1812.
-Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, Oct. 11, 1918: A tsunami spawned by this quake of magnitude 7.5 drowned scores of people. Final death toll placed at 116 with damage estimated at $4 million.
-Olympia, Wash., April 13, 1949: Eight people were killed and many were injured in quake of 7.1 magnitude that caused heavy damage in Washington and Oregon and was felt as far as western Montana.
-Hebgen Lake, Mont., Aug. 17, 1959: At least 28 people in a resort area were killed in a quake of magnitude 7.3. A landslide blocked Madison River canyon creating a large lake. Summer homes and highways were wiped out. Massive waves pounded shores of Hebgen Lake for 12 hours.
