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Northridge earthquake, California, U.S. (1994)
Cost: $42 billion
- the magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake,
- Caused large-scale damage throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley due to the location of its epicenter.
- lasted for about 10-20 seconds. The quake resulted in more than 60 deaths and more than 5,000 injuries.
- More than 25,000 people were left homeless, the earthquake caused an estimated $25 billion in damage, -
Kobe earthquake, Japan (1995)
Cost: $100 billion
- The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, occurred on Jan. 17, 1995, in the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.
- the quake was located 16 km (10 miles) beneath its epicenter, 20 km (12 miles) away from the city of Kobe.
- Measured at 6.8 magnitude, the earthquake killed nearly 6,500 people,
- The Kobe quake caused about $100 billion in destruction, according to an calculation by the World Bank, but Japanese trade rebounded within a year -
Hurricane Katrina, U.S. (2005)
Cost: $81 billion total damage cost
- Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the worst disasters in the U.S. history.
- made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Aug. 25, 2005
- At least 1,836 people died in the hurricane and in the subsequent floods.
- Five years later, thousands of displaced residents in Mississippi and Louisiana were still living in temporary accommodations. -
Sichuan earthquake, China (2008)
Cost: $29 billion
- Sichuan earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 magnitude.
- killed about 70,000 people and left more than 18,000 missing.
- epicenter was 80 km (50 miles) west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where almost 4 million people resided.
- Estimates put direct damage and losses from the earthquake at $29 billion, with indirect damage much higher. -
Earthquake and tsunami, Japan (2011)
Cost: $235 billion
- So far, 8,649 people have been confirmed dead and another 13,262 are missing since
- the 9.0-magnitude quake struck off the coast near Sendai, Japan,
- The degree of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami was enormous. Videos show that almost no parts of any structures were left standing in the worst affected areas.
- Failure of the cooling system at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant intensified the situation, resulting in evacuation of about 200,000 people
