Most devastating natural disasters
The following are a list of some of the world’s deadliest natural disasters – including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions – since the start of the last century:
28 December 1908 – A magnitude-7.2 earthquake kills 123,000 people in the Messina-Reggio Calabria area of eastern Sicily and southernmost Italy.
13 January 1915 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 leaves 29,980 dead in Avezzano, Italy.
16 December 1920 – Gansu, China, is hit with an earthquake reaching magnitude 8.6 that kills 200,000 people.
1 September 1923 – An temblor of 8.3 magnitude in Japan destroys one-third of Tokyo and most of Yokohama. More than 140,000 are killed.
22 May 1927 – An earthquake reaching 7.9 magnitude hits near Xining, China, and kills approximately 200,000.
25 December 1932 – Approximately 70,000 people are killed after an earthquake reaching 7.6 magnitude hits the Gansu region in China.
30 May 1935 – A magnitude 7.5 temblor strikes Quetta, Pakistan, killing more than 30,000 people.
24 January 1939 – An earthquake of 8.3 magnitude in Chile kills roughly 28,000 people.
27 December 1939 – More than 32,000 die in the Erzincan province in eastern Turkey during a 7.9-magnitude quake.
5 October 1948 – An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude in Turkmenistan kills more than 110,000 people.
15 August 1950 – Up to 30,000 are estimated to have been killed in an earthquake of 8.6 magnitude in Assam, India.
31 May 1970 – An earthquake reaching a magnitude of 7.9 in Peru leaves more than 60,000 dead.
13 November 1970 – A cyclone in the Ganges Delta of Bangladesh kills at least 300,000 people.
4 February 1976 – A series of earthquakes reaching a magnitude of 7.5 in Guatemala leave more than 23,000 dead.
28 July 1976 – The worst earthquake to hit China in the 20th century with an estimated magnitude of between 7.8 and 8.2 leaves more than 240,000 dead in Tangshan.
16 September 1978 – An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude in Tabas, Iran, kills 25,000 people.
14-16 November 1985 – Volcanic eruption of Nevada del Ruiz near Bogota, Colombia, kills approximately 25,000 people.
7 December 1988 – A 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Armenia kills nearly 25,000.
21 June 1990 – An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude in northwest Iran destroys cities and villages in Caspian Sea area and kills at least 50,000 people.
30 September 1993 – As many as 10,000 are killed from an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude that struck the state of Maharashtra in India.
17 August 1999 – More than 17,000 are killed as a magnitude-7.4 quake hits western Turkey.
26 December 2003 – More than 26,000 killed after an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude strikes the ancient historic city of Bam in southeast Iran.
26 December 2004 – A 9.0 earthquake off the western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island launches tsunami waves that slam shorelines in Asia and Africa, killing more than 117,000 people.