Japanese police direct traffic on a highway destroyed during the Tohoku Earthquake in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, 11 March 2011. Photo by EPA/BGNES
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday ranks the fifth largest in the world since 1900, according to scientists.
It was also the biggest quake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, according to the US Geological Survey.
The biggest quake recorded since 1900 hit the coast of southern Chile on May 22, 1960. The 9.5-magnitude quake killed more than 1,600 and left about 2 million people homeless, CNN reported.
The deadliest quake since 1900 occurred in Tangshan, China on July 27, 1976. The magnitude 7.5 quake had an official death toll of 255,000, with estimates as high as 655,000.
According to scientists, earthquakes of such magnitude are responsible for the most powerful shifts in the Earth's crust.
Japan is one of the world's most prepared societies when it comes to earthquakes and it recently established early warning system broadcast alerts in many areas, including Tokyo.