Landers Quake Was Strongest in ’92
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Seismologists on Friday officially anointed last June’s Landers earthquake as the strongest quake in the world for 1992. U.S. Geological Survey scientists upgraded the quake’s magnitude from 7.5 to 7.6, based on complete reports from 39 seismological stations throughout the world.
In its annual report on global seismicity, the Geological Survey also upgraded the Big Bear aftershock that followed the Landers temblor from magnitude 6.6 to 6.7.
Although it ranked as strongest, the Landers earthquake, which killed one person and injured about 400, did not cause the most casualties in 1992. That distinction went to the Dec. 12 earthquake off Flores Island in Indonesia. That quake and a resulting tsunami, or tidal wave, killed about 2,200 people.
Altogether, earthquakes killed about 3,500 people worldwide last year, the report said.
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