*Official Government figure. Estimated death toll as high as 655,000.
Earthquakes - Highest Death Tolls
Rank
Location
Magnitude
Date
Death Toll
1.
Shaanxi Province , China
~8
January 23, 1556
830,000*
2.
Tangshan, China
7.5
July 28, 1976
242,000**
3.
Aleppo , Syria
unknown
August 9 , 1138
230,000
4.
Near Xining , China
7.9
May 22 , 1927
200,000
5.
Damghan, Iran
unknown
December 22 , 1856
200,00
* 1556 Shaanxi earthquake **Official Government figure. Estimated death toll as high as 655,000.
Tropical cyclones - Highest Death Tolls
Rank
Location
Date
Death Toll
1.
Ganges Delta, East Pakistan
November 13, 1970
500,000 to 1,000,000
2.
Haiphong, Vietnam
1881
300,000
3.
Ganges Delta, Bangladesh
October 1876
215,000
4.
Bombay, India
June 6, 1882
100,000
5.
Calcutta, India
October 5, 1864
70,000
Note: October 7, 1737 Bengal, India Cyclone not included on this list, because of inablity to find an accurate death toll. Reports range from 3,000 (meaning it wouldn't be included on this list) to 300,000 (making it the second worst on record.)
Landslides - Highest Death Tolls
Rank
Location
Date
Death Toll
1.
Kahait, Tajikistan
1949
12,000
2.
Chiavenna Valley, Italy
September 4, 1618
2,240
3.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
January 11- January 13, 1966
550
4.
Goldau Valley, Switzerland
September 2, 1806
500
5.
Panabaj, Guatemala
October, 2005
500+
Tornadoes - Highest Death Tolls
Rank
Location
Date
Death Toll
1.
Midwest U.S.A.
March 18, 1925
747
2.
Mississippi and Georgia, U.S.A
April 5- April 6, 1936
436
3.
Mississippi, U.S.A.
May 7, 1840
317
4.
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
May 27, 1896
255
5.
South-Central U.S.A.
March 21- March 22, 1952
343
Volcanoes - Highest Death Tolls
Rank
Location
Date
Death Toll
1.
Tambora, Indonesia
April 5- April 12, 1815
92,000
2.
Krakatau, Indonesia
August 26 - August 27, 1883
36,417
3.
Martinique, West Indies
May 8, 1902
29,025
4.
Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia
November 13, 1985
21,800
5.
Mount Etna, Sicily
March 24, 1669
20,000
Analysis
It seems that floods are the most deadly types of natural disasters, with all five of the deadliest floods appearing in the top ten deadliest disasters of all time.
Of the 40 ranked disasters, 9 occurred in China, and 22 occurred in Asia. 8 occurred in Europe, 5 in North America, 5 in South America, and none in Africa or Australia. All of the top ten disasters occurred in Asia.
Major disasters of various types seem to be concentrated in specific places. For example, all of the top five floods occurred in China, all of the top five tornados occurred in the U.S.A., and all of the worst tropical cyclones occurred in Southeast Asia. This doesn't mean that these types of disasters don't occur elsewhere, just that the most deadly ones seem to occur in the same places over and over.
Notes
Items which could be considered in more than one category (such as an earthquake which causes a landslide or a tsunami) have only been counted once. For example, the 1920 earthquake/landslide in Kansu, China, killed 180,000 people, making it the worst landslide and the 3rd worst earthquake; however it is only on the list as an earthquake. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami killed over 250,000 people, making it the worst tsunami and second worst earthquake; however it is counted as a tsunami because the primary cause of death was from the waves triggered by the earthquake.
These disasters occurred during recorded history. Obviously, disasters occurring at times and places with quality record keeping are more likely to be listed than disasters that occurred at times and places with poor or no records.
In cases where disasters had a death toll within a range, the highest number was used for ranking purposes.
