Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) Predicted in a Hadith
“The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until...earthquakes will be very frequent.”(Book -Sahih Bukhari)
The following is a chronology of major earthquakes in recent years:
Turkey: October 23, 2011
The 7.2 magnitude quake, Turkey's most powerful in a decade, is one more affliction for Kurds, the dominant ethnic group in the impoverished region, killing 604 people.
Japan: March 11, 2011
An 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan spawned a ferocious tsunami that's caused massive destruction; flattening whole cities, starting raging fires, and killing 27000 poeple.
New Zealand: February 22, 2011
A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand, killing at least 166 people.
China: April 14, 2010
A quake of between 6.9 and 7.1 magnitude killed at least 400 people and devastated rural homes in remote Yushu county, Qinghai province, 2,500km west of Beijing.
Turkey: March 8, 2010
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, centred on the village of Basyurt in Elazig province, about 550km (340 miles) east of Ankara, the country's capital.
Chile: February 27, 2010
A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits central Chile, about 91km north-east of the city of Concepcion and 317km south-west of the capital, Santiago, killing more than 400 people.
Haiti: January 12, 2010
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits the capital Port-au-Prince demolishing buildings across the city, killing more than 200,000.
Sumatra, Indonesia: September 30, 2009
Magnitude 7.6 earthquake hits the city of Padang and surrounding areas, killing more than 1,100 people.
Samoan islands: September 29, 2009
A magnitude 8 to 8.3 quake hit between the islands of Samoa and American Samoa, triggering a powerful series of tsunamis.At least 186 people are killed.
Bhutan: September 21, 2009
A magnitude 6.1 quake struck 180km east of Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. At least 10 people were killed.
Andaman and Nicobar islands: August 10, 2009
A magnitude 7.6 quake struck in the Indian Ocean islands. No fatalities were recorded.
Japan: August 9, 2009
A magnitude 7.1 quake struck off the south coast of Honshu, Japan's main island. No fatalities or damage was recorded.
New Zealand: July 15, 2009
A 7.6 magnitude quake struck off the coast of New Zealand's south island. No fatalities or damage was recorded as it struck 150km west of the town of Invercargill.
Italy: April 6, 2009
A 6.3 magnitude quake struck the city of L'Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region, east of Rome, killing at least 292 people.
Pakistan: October 29, 2008
A 6.4 magnitude quake struck 70km northeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, killing at least 300 people.
China: 12 May 2008
Up to 87,000 people are killed or missing and as many as 370,000 injured by an earthquake in just one county in China's south-western Sichuan province.The tremor, measuring 7.8, struck 92km (57 miles) from the provincial capital Chengdu during the early afternoon.
Peru: Aug 15, 2007
An 8.0 magnitude quake killed more than 500 people and destroyed about 34,000 homes on central coast.
Japan: July 16, 2007
A 6.8 magnitude quake killed 10 people in northwestern Japan and shut the world's largest nuclear power plant.
Indonesia: March 6, 2007
A 6.4 magnitude quake and another measuring 6.3 in Sumatra kill more than 70 people.
Indonesia: 17 July 2006
A 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake triggers a tsunami that strikes a 200km (125-mile) stretch of the southern coast of Java, killing more than 650 people on the Indonesian island.
Indonesia: 27 May 2006
More than 5,700 people die when a magnitude 6.2 quake hits the Indonesian island of Java, devastating the city of Yogyakarta and surrounding areas.
Iran: March 31, 2006
An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hits the area of Doroud and Boroujerd in the western Lorestan province, killing at least 70 people.
Pakistan: October 8, 2005
At least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck about 95km northeast of Islamabad. The quake also rocked Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 1,244 people there.
Indonesia: March 28, 2005
Nearly 1,000 people are killed after a quake of magnitude 8.7 struck the coast of Sumatra.
Iran: 22 February 2005
Hundreds die in a 6.4 magnitude quake centred in a remote area near Zarand in Iran's Kerman province.
Aceh, Indonesia: December 26, 2004
A massive 9.1 magnitude quake strikes off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering a series of deadly tsunamis that sweep across the Indian Ocean. Around 230,000 people are killed, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand among the worst-hit countries.
Morocco: 24 February 2004
At least 500 people die in an earthquake which strikes towns on Morocco's Mediterranean coast.
Iran: December 26, 2003
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the historic city of Bam, 1,000km southeast of Tehran. More than 30,000 were killed.
Algeria: May 21, 2003
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Algiers and nearby towns to the east, killing 2,251 and injuring 10,243.
Turkey:1 May 2003
More than 160 people are killed, including 83 children in a collapsed dormitory, in south-eastern Turkey.
China: 24 February 2003
More than 260 people die and almost 10,000 homes are destroyed in Xinjiang region, in western China.
Afghanistan: March 26, 2002
At least 1,500 people are killed when a series of quakes of between magnitude five and six strike northern Afghanistan
India: January 26, 2001
An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck the western state of Gujarat killing at least 19,700 people and causing damage in neighbouring Pakistan. The quake affected 15.9 million people in 7,904 villages.
Taiwan: Sept 21, 1999
At least 2,000 people are killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless by a magnitude 7.6 quake in central Taiwan.
Turkey: August 17, 1999
More than 17,800 people killed by a magnitude 7.4 quake.
Afghanistan: May 30, 1998
A magnitude 6.9 quake kills up to 4,000 people in northern Takhar province.
Papua New Guinea: July 17, 1998
An undersea quake of magnitude 7.1 creates three tsunami waves, killing at least 2,100 people.
Afghanistan: February 4, 1998
At least 4,500 people were killed in Takhar province in a quake of magnitude 6.1.
Iran: May 10, 1997
A magnitude 7.1 quake kills 1,560 people in rural areas of eastern Iran near the Afghan border.
Iran: February 28, 1997
A magnitude 5.5 quake kills about 1,000 people in northwestern Iran.
Russia: May 28, 1995
Russia's worst earthquake, magnitude 7.5, kills 1,989 people in the oil-producing Far East.
Japan: January 17, 1995
A magnitude 7.2 quake, the country's worst in half a century, rocked Kobe, killing 6,430 people.
Colombia: June 6, 1994
A quake brought down buildings and triggered mudslides, killing about 1,000 people in the Paez River valley in southwestern Colombia.
India: September 30, 1993
A series of quakes killed almost 10,000 people in western and southern India. The first quake was of magnitude 6.4.
Indonesia: December 12, 1992
A magnitude 6.8 quake killed at least 2,200 people on a string of islands in the province of East Nusa Tenggara.
Northern Philippines: July 16, 1991
A magnitude of 7.6 quake, 2,000 people were killed in Northern Philippines.
Iran:June 20, 1990
A magnitude of 7.7 quake killed 50,000 People in Northwest of Iran.
"What are they awaiting but for the Hour (Last Day) to come upon them suddenly? Its Signs have already come. What good will their Reminder be to them when it does arrive? " (Quran 47: 18)
Source: Al-Jazeera, Reuters, BBC
