Up to 51 major earthquakes between 5.0 and 7.9 on the Richter scale occurred in 1948. The Ashgabat earthquake was the deadliest of the year, followed by the 1948 Fukui earthquake in Japan, which claimed 5,131 lives. The strongest quake of that year was the 7.8-magnitude event in the Philippines that claimed 78 lives. Due to the massive death toll of the Ashgabat quake, 1948 is seen as one of the deadliest earthquake years of the 20th century.