Backgrounder: Major earthquakes worldwide since 2010

An 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Nepal on Saturday, with strong tremors felt across the country and parts of India and Bangladesh. The disaster has killed more than 700 people so far.

The magnitude was measured by the China Earthquake Networks Center. And the U.S. Geological Survey put the quake at 7.7 magnitude.

A series of strong and massive earthquakes have hit countries across the globe in recent years. The following is a list of some strong and major ones since 2010:

On Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti, causing some 270,000 deaths and 1,000,000 homeless. Many buildings including the headquarters of the UN mission in Haiti collapsed in the earthquake. Damage and losses were estimated at about 7 billion U.S. dollars or more than 120 percent of Haiti's 2009 gross domestic product.

On Feb. 27, 2010, a powerful earthquake measuring 8.8 magnitude on the Richter scale struck southern Chile, triggering tsunamis as well as communications and power breakup in the region. The disaster killed at least 526 people and caused an estimated 30 billion dollars worth of damage to infrastructure, houses and industry.

On April 14, 2010, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed 2,698 people and left 270 missing in western China's Qinghai Province. The provincial government earmarked 2.363 billion yuan (346 million dollars) as quake relief funds to the quake-hit regions.

On Feb. 22, 2011, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand's Christchurch, killing 185 people and leaving more than 100 missing.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific coastal areas of northeastern and eastern Japan, triggering an enormous tsunami. The disaster killed more than 15,000 people and it quickly escalated into the worst civilian nuclear crisis ever to happen, with twice the amount of radioactive materials being released into the environment than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

On March 24, 2011, a 7.0-magnitude quake in Myanmar's northeastern Shan state led to the death of at least 60 people and injured 90 others. The quake, with an epicenter only 10 km deep and in Myanmar's hills, struck along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and Laos.

On Oct. 23, 2011, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey, killing at least 570 people and injuring 2,300. The strong earthquake led to the collapse of about 80 multi-story buildings in Ercis, a town of 75, 000 people close to the Iranian border.

On Oct. 25, 2011, a tsunami triggered by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in western Sumatra, Indonesia, killed at least 113 people, with 502 people missing.

On Feb. 2, 2012, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted Negros-Cebu region in central Philippines, killing at least 44 people. About 30 people died due to the landslide triggered by the quake.

On Sept. 7, 2012, 67 people were killed and 731 others injured after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in southwest China. Two quakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale hit a border area near Yiliang in Yunnan and Weining county in Guizhou province. A total of 740,000 people were affected by the quakes, with a direct economic loss of 3.5 billion yuan (551 million dollars).

On Nov. 7, 2012, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the Pacific coast of Guatemala, killing at least 48 people and injuring 155 others. The earthquake mainly impacted the province of San Marcos and the neighboring Quetzaltenango province.

On April 16, 2013, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit parts of southern and southwest Pakistan, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 300 others. The earthquake's epicenter was located on the Pakistan-Iran border at the depth of 76 km.

On April 20, 2013, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan County, Ya'an City of southwest China's Sichuan Province, leaving at least 188 people dead and 11,950 injured. Lushan is about 200 km from the epicenter of the massive Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province that left 87,000 dead and missing in 2008.

In July 2013, a 6.6-magnitude quake jolted northwest China's Gansu province, killing at least 75 people and injured more than 600. The earthquake happened at a fault zone in the province, which has recorded 25 earthquakes with a magnitude of over 5.0 throughout history.

On Sept. 24, 2013, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan's southwest province of Balochistan, killing more than 350 people and injuring over 600 others. The quake left hundreds of houses leveled to the ground, including a number of schools. Four days later, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the area again, claiming at least 12 people's lives and injuring a dozen others.

On Oct.15, 2013, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked the central Philippines, killing at least 161 people and injuring more than 375 others. The massive earthquake affected 3.4 million people and destroyed19,309 houses.

On Aug. 3, 2014, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Ludian County of Zhaotong City in southwest China's Yunnan Province, killing more than 600 people. Nearly 80,000 rooms of 25,500 households collapsed in the quake and 124,000 rooms of 39,200 households were seriously damaged. Endi