12 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters
When a natural disaster such as a tropical cyclone or an earthquake strikes, it often brings with it additional calamities such as floods, tsunamis, and disease, causing the death toll, damage to property, and economic loss to spiral. These 12 natural disasters destroyed cities and wiped out communities around the world in the 20th and 21st centuries, collectively taking millions of human lives.
Yangtze River flood of 1931
- Country: China
- Estimated death toll: 3.7 million people
Major flood events along the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in central and eastern China have occurred from ancient times to the present, causing considerable destruction of property and many casualties, but the major flood of 1931 stands out. It covered tens of thousands of square miles, flooding rice fields and various cities, including Nanjing and Wuhan. The flood affected more than 50 million people. Government organizations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, estimated the death toll to have been about 3.7 million people.
Bhola cyclone of 1970
- Country: East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)
- Estimated death toll: 300,000–500,000 people
Also called the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta cyclone, the Bhola cyclone was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) on November 12, 1970, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the densely populated Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Although it was not ranked in the top category of cyclone intensity scales, it was one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in recorded history. The cyclone formed over the Bay of Bengal on November 8, 1970. After reaching a peak wind speed of 115 miles (185 km) per hour, it made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan on November 12. The cyclone was accompanied by a storm surge (a rapid elevation of sea level) that flooded the low-lying region. Most of the deaths were caused by drowning, and entire villages were wiped out. In addition, the cyclone affected the political environment in the country: West Pakistan’s failure to send sufficient aid to East Pakistan in the aftermath was one of the key factors that prompted widespread protests and calls for independence in East Pakistan.
Tangshan earthquake of 1976
- Country: China
- Estimated death toll: 242,000–655,000 people
On July 28, 1976, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake nearly razed the Chinese coal-mining and industrial city of Tangshan, resulting in one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. The death toll was officially reported as 242,000 people, but it may have been as high as 655,000. At least 700,000 more people were injured, and property damage was extensive, reaching even Beijing (about 68 miles [110 km] west of Tangshan). Most of the fatalities resulted from the collapse of unreinforced masonry homes in which people were sleeping. Shaking from the quake was felt more than 680 miles (1,100 km) away in all directions, and later that day a major aftershock (magnitude 7.1) occurred in the city of Luanxian, some 43 miles (70 km) to the northeast. This aftershock caused additional damage and casualties.
Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004
- Estimated death toll: 228,000 people killed and tens of thousands missing
On December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Over the next seven hours, a tsunami—a series of immense ocean waves—triggered by the quake reached out across the Indian Ocean, devastating coastal areas as far away as East Africa. Some locations reported that the waves had reached a height of 30 feet (9 meters) or more when they hit the shoreline. The tsunami killed an estimated 228,000 people across 15 countries, with India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand sustaining massive damage. Indonesian officials estimated that the death toll there alone ultimately exceeded 200,000, particularly in northern Sumatra’s Aceh province. Tens of thousands were reported dead or missing in Sri Lanka and India, a large number of them from the Indian Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory. The low-lying island country of Maldives reported more than a hundred casualties and immense economic damage. Several thousand tourists vacationing in the region also were reported dead or missing.
Typhoon Nina–Banqiao dam failure of 1975
- Country: China
- Estimated death toll: 171,000–220,000 people
Typhoon Nina struck western Henan province, China, in August 1975. The typhoon caused a dam failure, and the ensuing floods caused more than 150,000 casualties. The Banqiao Dam, built in the early 1950s in an effort to control the Huang He (Yellow River), failed when Typhoon Nina produced floods twice as intense as the dam could withstand. According to reports, at least 26,000 people died in the floods. An estimated 145,000 people died from epidemics caused by water contamination and famine. The number of people affected by the disaster exceeded 10 million.
Haiti earthquake of 2010
- Country: Haiti
- Estimated death toll: 200,000–316,000 people
On January 12, 2010, an earthquake hit Haiti about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. The earthquake registered a magnitude of 7.0 and was followed by aftershocks that registered magnitudes of 5.9 and 5.5. Another aftershock of magnitude 5.9 struck on January 20. The earthquake was generated by contractional deformation along the Léogâne fault, a small hidden thrust fault discovered underneath the city of Léogâne. There has been debate about the total number of deaths caused by this earthquake. The Haitian government’s official count was more than 300,000, which would make the earthquake and its aftermath one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history, but other estimates were considerably lower. Hundreds of thousands more were displaced.
Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake of 1923
- Country: Japan
- Estimated death toll: 140,000 people
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area about noon on September 1, 1923. The death toll from the temblor was estimated to have exceeded 140,000. Most of those deaths were caused by subsequent widespread fires. Many hundreds of thousands of houses were either shaken down or burned, and the shock generated a tsunami that reached a height of 39.5 feet (12 meters) at the city of Atami, on the Sagami Gulf. The earthquake and its aftermath destroyed the largest commercial center of Japan and traumatized the country for decades.
Bangladesh cyclone of 1991
- Country: Bangladesh
- Estimated death toll: 140,000 people
The weather system originated over the Bay of Bengal and began moving north. By April 24 the storm was designated Tropical Storm 02B, and by April 28 it was a tropical cyclone. One day later the storm hit south of Chittagong, with winds of up to 150 miles (240 km) per hour. The damage was immediate, as a storm surge as high as 15 feet (5 meters) engulfed the flat, coastal plains of southeastern Bangladesh. The surge washed away entire villages and swamped farms, destroying crops and spreading fears of widespread hunger as well as economic woes. Worries were exacerbated by the memory of the Bhola cyclone, which had taken the lives of as many as 500,000 people in 1970. After that cyclone, a few storm shelters had been built. Although in 1991 some were saved by the shelters, many people had doubted warnings of the storm or had been given inadequate warning. An estimated 140,000 people were killed by the storm, as many as 10 million people lost their homes, and overall property damage was in the billions of dollars.
Cyclone Nargis of 2008
- Country: Myanmar
- Estimated death toll: 138,000 people
On May 2–3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy delta region of south-central Myanmar, obliterating villages and killing some 138,000 people. The government’s failure to provide relief quickly at the outset of the disaster and its unwillingness to accept foreign aid or to grant entrance to foreign relief workers further increased the death toll caused by disease and elicited harsh criticism from the international community.
Vietnam floods of 1971
- Country: Vietnam
- Estimated death toll: 100,000 people
In August 1971, floods struck the war-ravaged country of Vietnam, killing an estimated 100,000 people in the low-lying Red River delta. The dike systems of this major rice-growing region, which usually protect Hanoi, the capital city, and surrounding areas, were unable to contain the flooding, possibly because of poor maintenance during the ongoing war.
Sichuan earthquake of 2008
- Country: China
- Estimated death toll: 69,000–90,000 people
A devastating earthquake occurred in the mountainous central region of Sichuan province in southwestern China on May 12, 2008. The epicenter of the magnitude-7.9 quake was located near the city of Dujiangyan, about 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, at a depth of 11.8 miles (19 km) below the surface. Whole villages and towns in the mountains were destroyed. Almost 90,000 people were counted as dead or missing and presumed dead in the final official Chinese government assessment; the officially reported death toll included more than 5,300 children, most of them students attending classes as thousands of schools collapsed. Numerous aftershocks occurred in the days, months, and years that followed, including a magnitude-5.0 event that struck Chengdu in May 2010.
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Kashmir earthquake of 2005
- Estimated death toll: 79,000 people
On October 8, 2005, a disastrous earthquake struck the Pakistan-administered portion of the Kashmir region, the North-West Frontier Province (later Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of Pakistan, and adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan. The earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 7.6, and the relief effort for the survivors was hampered by numerous aftershocks, ensuing landslides, and falling rocks. The severity of the damage and the high number of fatalities were exacerbated by poor construction in the affected areas. In Kashmir at least 79,000 people were killed and more than 32,000 buildings collapsed.