Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason.

The main point of note from this year was the devastation seen across the globe from several catastrophic events.

China in July had officially 242,000 deaths from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.

Towards the year end Turkey had an event resulting in 5,000 deaths.

Although not as devastating Italy had nearly 1,000 deaths in May with subsequent aftershocks causing further destruction.