California, Alaska, Japan, South America, and the Philippines are all on plate boundaries. Alaska has more earthquakes per year than the combined total of the rest of the United States. As many as 4,000 are recorded there every year. Alaska is on a plate boundary where one plate is sliding along another, a subduction zone. A magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960 was the largest known earthquake and resulted in over 6,000 deaths.
Chile is also on a subduction zone.
It had a magnitude of 9.2. 115 people died, with most of the deaths due to the tsunami it generated. All had estimated magnitudes greater than 8.0 on the Richter Scale, the largest happening on February 7, 1812. These events were felt over a region far greater than any other in the United States, an estimated 2 million square miles. There were fewer than 100 deaths, because of the small number of people living in the area.