In 1693, a severe earthquake inflicted heavy damage to the town.

The catastrophic earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 inflicted significant damage along the east coast of this region.

Between 1834 and 1837 earthquakes and aftershocks in Bethlehem inflicted significant damage to the Church of the Nativity.

The earthquake that battered this city on Monday inflicted heavy damage on a small number of modern, wood-frame apartment buildings that were supposed to be able to withstand moderate shaking, officials said today.

After the 1989 earthquake inflicted further damage, the university implemented a billion-dollar capital improvement plan to retrofit and renovate older buildings for new, up-to-date uses.

Damage to other towns Although the impact of the earthquake on San Francisco was the most famous, the earthquake also inflicted considerable damage on several other cities.

The earthquakes of 1531, 1858, 1909 and 1969 inflicted minor damage.

But the worst damage that Wednesday's earthquake inflicted on Olympia, the state capital and closest city to the epicenter, was more subtle.

Nonetheless, very large intraplate earthquakes can inflict heavy damage, particularly because such areas are not accustomed to earthquakes and buildings are usually not seismically retrofitted.

Javier Pacheco, the director of Mexico's National Seismological Service, said the earthquake did not inflict more damage because the soil of Puebla is rockier than the loamy former lake bed underneath Mexico City.