Quakes have been recorded as long as time has been recorded.  The 21^st Century has already seen a number of killer events.  Due to population density, seismological advances, and prevalence of cell videos and cameras, 21^st Century disasters will be highly-chronicled and witnessed by global audiences.

Some of recent history's most destructive quakes erupted in the past few years: the 2004 Indian Ocean event that killed more than 200,000 people in 14 countries, the devastating 2010 Haiti quake, the nightmarish events of March, 2011 in Japan and the 2015 Nepal disaster.

Thousands of people from far-flung places have died in quakes in recent years.  Some of the deadlier earthquakes of the 21^st Century (by year):

2001: Gujarat (India), Peru, El Salvador

2002: Hindu Kush, Turkey, Iran, Italy

2003: Iran, Algeria, China, Mexico

2004: Indian Ocean tsunami, Morocco, Niigata (Japan)

2005: Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran

2006: Java

2007: Chincha Alta (Peru), Solomon Islands, Sumatra

2008: China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Lake Kivu (Congo)

2009: Sumatra, Java, Samoa, L'Aquila (Italy), Costa Rica

2010: Haiti, Chile, China, Turkey, Sumatra

2011: Japan, New Zealand, Myanmar, Spain, Fiji, Turkey, Peru

2012: Azerbaijan, Mexico, Philippines

2013: Baluchistan, Iran, China, Philippines

2014: Chile, Alaska, Mexico

2015: Nepal, Malaysia

The United States has been spared a deadly quake of those proportions, but has experienced damaging events nonetheless:

2001: Washington State

2002: Alaska

2003: Alabama, California, Virginia

2004: LaSalle County (Illinois)

2006: Hawaii, Gulf of Mexico (west of Florida coast)

2007: Alaska, California

2008: Wabash Valley seismic zone (southeast Illinois)

2009: California

2010: California, Indiana, Sandwich Fault (Illinois)

2011 to present: Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alaska, California