Disasterporn

January 26 is apparently a popular day for earthquakes. . . .

1531 Lisbon, Portugal Earthquake
The intensity was not recorded, but it caused massive damage to the city and caused an estimated 30,000 deaths.

1700 Cascadia earthquake
The 1700 Cascadia Earthquake was a magnitude 8.7 – 9.2 megathrust earthquake that occurred in the Cascadia subduction zone in 1700. The earthquake involved the Juan de Fuca Plate underlying the Pacific ocean, from mid-Vancouver Island in southwest Canada off British Columbia to northern California, along the Pacific Northwest coast. The length of the fault rupture was about 1000 kilometers (600 miles) with an average slip of 20 meters. The Cascadia Earthquake caused a tsunami that struck the coast of Japan, and may also be linked to the Bonneville slide. The evidence suggests that it took place at about 9:00 PM on January 26, 1700. Although there were no written records in the region at the time, the earthquake's precise date is nevertheless known from Japanese records of a tsunami that has not been tied to any other Pacific Rim earthquake. The most important clue linking the tsunami in Japan and the earthquake in the Pacific Northwest comes from studies of tree rings (dendrochronology) which show that red cedar trees killed by lowering of coastal forests into the tidal zone by the earthquake have outermost growth rings that formed in 1699, the last growing season before the tsunami. Oral traditions also exist among the region's original inhabitants, although these do not specify the date.

2001 Gujarat earthquake
The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was reportedly the most devastating earthquake in India in recent history. It occurred on January 26, 2001, which coincided with the 51st celebration of Republic Day (India) at 0317 hrs GMT. The location of the epicentre was Bhuj, Gujarat, India. Measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, the quake killed more than 20,000 people and injured another 167,000 and destroyed near a million homes throughout Gujarat and parts of Eastern Pakistan. The earthquake is considered an intraplate earthquake because it occurred a great distance from any plate boundary, where the theory of plate tectonics says most earthquakes of this size happen. Because of this, this area was not prepared for an earthquake of such size, causing much of the devastation.

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