very simple

For pure, focused, devastation, however, probably the most intense earthquake in recorded history was one that struck-and essentially shook to pieces-Lisbon, Portugal, on All Saints Day (November 1), 1755. Just before ten in the morning, the city was hit by a sudden sideways lurch now estimated at magnitude 9.0 and shaken ferociously for seven full minutes. The convulsive force was so great that the water rushed out of the city’s harbor and returned in a wave fifty feet high, adding to the destruction. When at last the motion ceased, survivors enjoyed just three minutes of calm before a second shock came, only slightly less severe than the first. A third and final shock followed two hours later. At the end of it all, sixty thousand people were dead and virtually every building for miles reduced to rubble.

250 years later, and we’re still seeing this kind of devastation. It looks like the number of those that perished will easily surpass this prior "most devastating" event (and you can try to pin some of that on population growth, but Lisbon was a major city in that era).

On that note, Doctors without Borders is also taking donations – their website has been kind of flooded with visitors as of late making it almost impossible to get through, but certainly worth it.