With the death toll exceeding 50,000, the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on 6 February and several aftershocks is among the 10 deadliest earthquakes of the past century.
, 1976: 242,000 dead, China –
An earthquake measuring 7.8 according to Chinese officials (7.5 according to the US Geological Survey) occurred near the industrial city of Tangshan in northeastern Hebei province. The official death toll is given as 242,000, but is believed to be much higher.
Western experts have put the toll as high as 700,000, which would make it the second deadliest in the history of mankind after the colossal disaster of 1556, which struck northern Shanxi province with an estimate of the toll at more than 830,000 lives.
– 2004: 230,000 dead, Southeast 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 across the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia alone.
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Waves up to 30 m (100 ft) high, traveling at 700 kilometers per hour (435 mph), swallowed everything in their path.
– 2010: 200,000 dead, Haiti –
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
The earthquake cut the country off from the rest of the world for 24 hours, killing more than 200,000 people, leaving 1.5 million homeless and crippling Haiti’s vulnerable infrastructure.
In October of the same year, Haiti was also affected by a cholera epidemic started by Nepalese peacekeepers who arrived after the earthquake. It kills more than 10,000 people.
– 1923: 105,000 dead, Japan –
On September 1, 1923, two minutes before noon, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Kantō Plain in Japan.
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The death toll from the earthquake and resulting fires, which destroyed Tokyo, was initially placed at 142,000, but was later revised to 105,000 dead or missing.
– 1948: 110,000 dead, Turkmenistan –
On October 5, 1948, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake killed at least 110,000 people in and around Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which was then part of the Soviet Union.
– 2008: 87,000 dead, Sichuan –
On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck China’s southwestern Sichuan province, killing or missing more than 87,000 people, including thousands of school children.
After it emerged that 7,000 schools had been badly damaged, triggering allegations of shoddy construction, corner-cutting and possible corruption, especially as many other nearby buildings The aftermath causes an earthquake.
– 2005: 73,000 dead, Kashmir –
The October 8, 2005 earthquake killed more than 73,000 people, most of them in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered region of Kashmir.
Another 3.5 million are displaced.
– 1932: 70,000 dead, China –
On December 25, 1932, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck northwest China’s Gansu province, killing approximately 70,000 people.
– 1970: 67,000 dead, Peru –
On May 31, 1970, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the northern coast of Peru killed approximately 67,000 people, many of whom were buried in a mudslide in the mountain town of Huaraz.
– 2023: More than 50,000 dead, Turkey and Syria –
On February 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey and neighboring Syria.
More than 50,000 people died after a 7.5-magnitude quake followed, according to a revised toll by AFP based on multiple sources in late February, the biggest earthquake to hit Turkey in nearly a century.
More than 45,000 of the dead were in Turkey and about 6,000 in Syria.
