1. 1976: 242,000 dead, China
A quake measuring 7.8, according to the Chinese authorities, (7.5 according to the United States Geological Survey), struck near the industrial city of Tangshan in northeastern Hebei province. The official death toll is given as 242,000 but is believed to be significantly higher.
Western experts put the toll as high as 700,000, which would make it the second most deadly in the history of mankind, after the huge 1556 disaster that struck northern Shaanxi province, with estimates of the toll put at more than 830,000 people.
2. 2004: 230,000 dead, South-East Asia
On December 26, 2004, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people throughout the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia alone.
Waves 30 metres (100 feet) high, travelling at 700 kilometres per hour (435 miles per hour), swallow everything in their path.
3. 2010: 200,000 dead, Haiti
A magnitude 7 quake on January 12, 2010, devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.
The quake cut the country off from the rest of the world for 24 hours, killing over 200,000 people, leaving 1.5 million homeless and shattering much of Haiti’s frail infrastructure.
In October the same year, Haiti was also hit by a cholera epidemic introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers who arrived after the quake. It killed more than 10,000 people.
4. 1923: 142,000 dead, Japan
On September 1, 1923, two minutes before noon, a 7.9-quake shook Kanto in Japan. More than 142,000 people died in the earthquake and resulting fire, which destroyed Tokyo.
5. 1948: 110,000 dead, Turkmenistan
On October 5, 1948, at least 110,000 people were killed in a 7.3-quake in and around Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union.
6. 2008: 87,000 dead, Sichuan
More than 87,000 people, including 5,335 school pupils, were left dead or missing when a 7.9-magnitude quake struck China’s southwestern Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.
The quake caused outrage after it emerged that 7,000 schools were badly damaged, triggering accusations of shoddy construction, corner-cutting and possible corruption, especially as many other buildings nearby held firm.
7. 2005: 73,000 dead, Kashmir
An earthquake on October 8, 2005, killed more than 73,000 people, most in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir.
A further 3.5 million were displaced.
8. 1932: 70,000 dead, China
On December 25, 1932, a 7.9-magnitude quake killed around 70,000 in Gansu province, in North-West China.
9. 1970: 67,000 dead, Peru
On May 31, 1970, a 7.9-magnitude quake off Peru’s north coast left some 67,000 dead, many in the mountain city of Huaraz that was buried by a mudslide.
10. 2023: Already 41,000 dead, Turkey and Syria
On February 6, a 7.8-magnitude quake struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.
The biggest quake in Turkey in nearly a century, which was followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor, reduced entire neighbourhoods of cities in southeastern Turkey and the North of war-ravaged Syria to rubble.
On February 17, officials and medics said 38,044 people had died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria, bringing the confirmed total to 41,732.
AFP
