Ten deadliest quakes of the past 100 years

Issued on: 16/02/2023 - 

Paris (AFP) – With the estimated death toll still mounting, the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 is among the 10 deadliest of the past 100 years, with over 41,000 dead as of Friday.

- 1976: 242,000 dead, China -

A quake measuring 7.8, according to the Chinee authorities, (7.5 according to the US Geological Survey), strikes 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.

2004: 230,000 dead, southeast Asia

On December 26, 2004, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that kills 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.

2010: 200,000 dead, Haiti

A magnitude 7 quake on January 12, 2010, devastates the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.

The quake cuts 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 is also hit by a cholera epidemic introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers who arrived after the quake. It kills more than 10,000 people.

1923: 142,000 dead, Japan

On September 1, 1923, two minutes before noon, a 7.9-quake shakes Kanto in Japan. More than 142,000 people die in the earthquake and resulting fire, which destroys Tokyo.

1948: 110,000 dead, Turkmenistan

On October 5, 1948, at least 110,000 people are killed in a 7.3-quake in and around Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union.

2008: 87,000 dead, Sichuan

More than 87,000 people, including 5,335 school pupils, are left dead or missing when a 7.9-magnitude quake strikes China's southwestern Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.

The quake causes outrage after it emerges 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.

2005: 73,000 dead, Kashmir

An earthquake on October 8, 2005, kills 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 are displaced.

1932: 70,000 dead, China

On December 25, 1932, a 7.9-magnitude quake kills around 70,000 in Gansu province, in northwest China.

1970: 67,000 dead, Peru

On May 31, 1970, a 7.9-magnitude quake off Peru's north coast leaves some 67,000 dead, many in the mountain city of Huaraz that was buried by a mudslide.

2023: already 41,000 dead, Turkey and Syria

On February 6, a 7.8-magnitude quake strikes near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.

The biggest quake in Turkey in nearly a century, which is followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor, reduces 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.

© 2023 AFP