Top Ten Worst Natural Disasters
|
Rank |
Type |
Location |
Date |
Death Toll |
|
1. |
Flood |
Huang He River, China |
Summer 1931 |
850,000-4,000,000 |
|
2. |
Flood |
China |
1959 |
2,000,000 |
|
3. |
Flood |
Huang He River, China |
September-October 1887 |
900,000-2,000,000 |
|
4. |
Tropical Cyclone |
Ganges Delta, East Pakistan |
November 13, 1970 |
500,000-1,000,000 |
|
5. |
Earthquake |
Shaanxi Province, China |
January 23, 1556 |
830,000 |
|
6. |
Flood |
North China |
1939 |
500,000 |
|
7. |
Tsunami |
Indian Ocean |
December 26, 2004 |
250,000-310,000 |
|
8. |
Tropical Cyclone |
Haiphong, Vietnam |
1881 |
300,000 |
|
9. |
Flood |
Kaifeng, Henan Province, China |
1642 |
300,000 |
|
10. |
Earthquake |
Tangshan, China |
July 28, 1976 |
242,000* |
*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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worst_natural_disasters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights
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