This is a list of earthquakes in 1948. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the list as they wouldn't have generated significant media interest. All dates are listed according to UTC time. This would go down as one of the deadliest years of the 20th century. The main factor behind this was the earthquake which struck Turkmenistan that left 110,000 people dead in early October. This was the deadliest single earthquake since 1923 when a great quake struck Tokyo. Other events during the year caused many deaths including one in Japan in June which resulted in over 5,000 deaths. The number of magnitude 7.0+ events (18) was around normal with the biggest event being in the Philippines measuring 7.8. Clusters of large events were reported in Latin America and the southwest Pacific particularly Fiji in the early part of the year.
The 1948 Lady Caycay earthquake caused a total of 74 deaths. 2 people were killed in a tsunami that swept ashore. Many homes were destroyed or damaged. Costs were around $3.5 million (1948 rate).
The 1948 Fukui earthquake caused major destruction in the area. 5,131 people were killed and 11,000 were injured. About 63,000 homes were destroyed and another 18,543 were damaged. $1 billion (1948 rate) in property damage was caused.
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, north of Ashgabat
7.3
15.0
X
The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake was one of the worst of the 20th century. 110,000 people were killed. Many (at least 1,001) were injured. Ashgabat was almost destroyed. Some parts of northern Iran suffered heavy damage. Damage costs were $25 million (1948 rate).
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Philippines, Panay (Magnitude 7.8) 24 January
Soviet Union, north of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (Magnitude 7.3) 5 October, 110,000 deaths.svg){kind=small}
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