Deadliest Natural Disasters

Antioch Earthquake

526

The reason this earthquake is so deadly is that it was followed by a big fire that caused many more casualties. There is not a large amount of information about this event, but it is estimated that there were 250,000 deaths from both the fire and the earthquake.

Allepo Earthquake

Oct 11, 1138

The Allepo Earthquake was a series of a few small earthquakes followed one that is in debate for the third deadliest earthquake in the world. Over the span of a few months, 230,000 people ended up dying. Many small towns around Allepo were completely destroyed, but Allepo was affected the most by the earthquakes.

Shaanxi Earthquake

Jan 23, 1556

This is one of the deadliest earthquakes with a death toll of about 800,000. It also affected over 97 Chinese counties. Many of the people killed lived in artificial caves which fell during the event killing more than 60% of the total population.

Haiyuan Earthquake

Dec 6, 1920

With nearly 273,000 deaths from this brutal event, the Chinese people were physically and emotionally damaged for a while. The special thing about this event was the many aftershocks that followed. For roughly 6 months of strong aftershocks, China feared to rebuild anything in belief that it would soon be taken down.

China Floods

1931

The Republic of China was the victim of the deadliest natural disaster the world has ever seen. China went through a 2 year long drought followed by a series of disastrous cyclones. Almost 30 million people were affected with an unbelievable 4,000,000 deaths.

Typhoon Nina

1935

Typhoon Nina was a tropical cyclone in Taiwan that took out the, causing 229,000 casualties. The Banqiao Dam got destroyed during this and caused incredible damage to the areas round it.

Bhola Cyclone

Nov 12, 1970

East Pakistan got wiped completely wiped out by this cyclone, being it was the biggest one in recorded history. The Pakistani Government was greatly criticized for their lack of preparation for the cyclone, as they knew it was coming way before it struck. 500,000 people lost their lives in the surge, taking up 45% of the total population

Indian Ocean Cyclone

1975

This cyclone was especially bad because it hit areas surrounding all of the Indian Ocean, and it was more than one cyclone. With at least 10 different areas affected, the death toll added up to 300,000 people.

Tangshan Earthquake

Jul 28, 1976

In debate for the largest earthquake of the 20th century, the Tangshan Earthquake truly devastated China. Striking at 4 A.M. obviously caught most of the people off-guard making it hard for them to get to safety. The poor construction of buildings there also contributed to the 243,000 casualties.

Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami

Dec 26, 2004

A chain reaction event occurred when the Indian Ocean Earthquake occurred. While that initially packed a punch on Indonesia, the earths movement caused the plates to shift, which then sparked the following tsunamis. This tragic event killed a staggering 280,000 people.