HONG KONG (AFP) - A 7.1-magnitude earthquake has struck central Mexico, killing at least 240 people on the anniversary of a devastating 1985 quake.

Here are some of the most significant earthquakes of the last 30 years.

- Sept 7, 2017: A quake strikes the southern part of Mexico, killing 96 people. Seismological authorities measured the quake at 8.2, surpassing the 8.1-quake that killed 10,000 people in Mexico City in 1985.

- Aug 8, 2017: A relatively shallow 6.3-magnitude earthquake rattles north-west China, followed by two smaller aftershocks. Twenty-four people killed.

- Jan 18, 2017 - Four earthquakes hit central Italy. About three hours later, an avalanche slams into a hotel on the eastern slopes of Monte Gran Sasso, burying the structure in rock and snow and killing 29 people.

- Aug 24, 2016: A quake with a magnitude of up to 6.2 hits villages in central Italy, killing nearly 300 people. The tremor was felt in Rome, 150km from the epicentre near Amatrice.

- April 16, 2016: A 7.8-magnitude quake strikes Ecuador, killing 673 people and levelling thousands of buildings up and down the coast.

- Feb 6, 2016: A 6.4-magnitude quake hit Taiwan's Tainan. More than 100 people are killed after a building collapses.

- Oct 26, 2015: A powerful 7.5-magnitude quake strikes Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region and is felt through much of South Asia.

- April 25, 2015: A 7.8-magnitude quake in Nepal kills almost 8,900 people and destroys about half a million homes. A massive aftershock with a magnitude of 7.3 follows in May, killing dozens more.

- Aug 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.

- Oct 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.

- March 11, 2011: Around 18,500 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.1 undersea quake slams into the north-east coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.

- Jan 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.

- April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in north-west China's Qinghai province, leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.

- May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China's south-west province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

- May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia's Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.

- Oct 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 magnitude kills more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir state. Some 3.5 million are displaced.

- March 28, 2005: An earthquake on Indonesia's Nias island off Sumatra leaves 900 dead.

- Dec 26, 2004: A 9.3-magnitude undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggers a tsunami that kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

- Dec 26, 2003: A quake measuring 6.7 hits the Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,884 people and injuring 18,000.

- Jan 26, 2001: A massive 7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.

- Jan 17, 1995: A 6.9-magnitude quake, later called The Great Hanshin Earthquake, struck about 20km from the city of Kobe, killing up to 6,434 people and leaving more than 300,000 homeless.

- Sept 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601.

- Oct 20, 1991: A quake measuring 6.6 hits the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh state in India, killing 768.

- Aug 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.