List of natural disasters by death toll: Difference between revisions
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| 11. || {{nts|59}} || [[1993 Bayburt Üzengili avalanche]] || [[Turkey]] || {{dts|1993}} |
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| 12. || {{nts|57}} || [[1954 Blons avalanches]] || [[Austria]] || {{dts|1954}} |
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Revision as of 10:28, 8 September 2011
This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. (January 2010) |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2010) |
The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. (December 2010) |
A natural disaster is defined as a hazard which occurs naturally, that is a disaster that is not brought about by acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, etc. In order to be classified as a disaster it will have profound environmental effect and/or human loss and frequently incurs financial loss.
Ten deadliest natural disasters
Rank | Death toll (estimate) | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1,000,000–2,500,000*[1] | 1931 China floods | China | July, November, 1931 |
2. | 900,000–2,000,000[2] | 1887 Yellow River flood | China | September, October, 1887 |
3. | 830,000[3] | 1556 Shaanxi earthquake | Shaanxi Province, China | January 23, 1556 |
4. | 500,000[1] | 1970 Bhola cyclone | East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) | November 13, 1970 |
5. | 316,000[4] | 2010 Haiti earthquake | Port-au-Prince, Haiti | January 12, 2010 |
6. | 300,000[5] | 1839 India Cyclone | India | November 25, 1839 |
7. | 250,000–300,000 | 526 Antioch earthquake | Antioch, Byzantine Empire (now Turkey) | May 526 |
8. | 242,419 (the death toll has been estimated to be as high as 665,000)[1] | 1976 Tangshan earthquake | Tangshan, Hebei, China | July 28, 1976 |
9. | 234,117[1] | 1920 Haiyuan earthquake | Haiyuan, Ningxia-Gansu, China | December 16, 1920 |
10. | 230,210 | 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami | Sumatra, Indonesia and also affected India, Sri Lanka, Maldives | December 26, 2004 |
* Estimate by Nova's sources are close to 4 million and yet Encarta's sources report as few as 1 million. Expert estimates report wide variance.
An alternative listing is given by Hough in his 2008 book Global Security.[6]
Ten deadliest natural disasters of the past century
Rank | Maximum death toll | Event* | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 145,000–2,500,000 | 1931 China floods | China | November 1931 |
2. | 242,419–779,000 | 1976 Tangshan earthquake | China | July 1976 |
3. | 300,000–500,000 | 1970 Bhola cyclone | East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) | November 1970 |
4. | 316,000[7] | 2010 Haiti earthquake | Haiti | January 2010 |
5. | 234,000 | 1920 Haiyuan earthquake | China | December 1920 |
6. | 230,210+ | 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami | Indonesia | December 2004 |
7. | 142,000 | 1923 Great Kanto earthquake | Japan | September 1923 |
8. | 138,000+ | 2008 Cyclone Nargis | Myanmar | May 2008 |
9. | 138,000 | 1991 Bangladesh cyclone | Bangladesh | April 1991 |
10. | 120,000 | 1948 Ashgabat earthquake | Turkmenistan | October 1948 |
* Does not include industrial or technological accidents.
Lists of natural disasters
Avalanches
Rank | Death toll (estimate) | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 50,000 | 1970 Huascarán avalanche; triggered by the 1970 Ancash earthquake[8] | Peru | 1970 |
2. | 4,000 | 1962 Huascarán avalanche[8] | Peru | 1962 |
3. | 265 | Winter of Terror | Austria-Switzerland | 1951 |
4. | 172 | 2010 Salang avalanches | Afghanistan | 2010 |
5. | 158 | 1918 Yuzawa avalanche [citation needed] | Japan | 1918 |
6. | 125 | Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide | Russia | 2002 |
7. | 102 | 2010 Kohistan avalanche | Pakistan | 2010 |
8. | 96 | Wellington, Washington avalanche | United States | 1910 |
9. | 90 | Frank Slide | Canada | 1903 |
9. | 90 | 1922 Ome avalanche [citation needed] | Japan | 1922 |
10. | 62 | 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche | Canada | 1910 |
11. | 59 | 1993 Bayburt Üzengili avalanche | Turkey | 1993 |
12. | 57 | 1954 Blons avalanches | Austria | 1954 |
Blizzards
Rank | Death toll (estimate) | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 4,000 | 1972 Iran blizzard | Iran | 1972 |
2. | 926 | 2008 Afghanistan blizzard | Afghanistan | 2008 |
3. | 400 | Great Blizzard of 1888 | United States | 1888 |
4. | 318 | 1993 North American Storm Complex | United States | 1993 |
5. | 235 | Schoolhouse Blizzard | United States | 1888 |
6. | 199 | Hakko-da Mountains incident | Japan | 1902 |
7. | 144 | Armistice Day Blizzard | United States | 1940 |
8. | 133 | 2008 Chinese winter storms | China | 2008 |
9. | 112 | 1995 Kazakh Blizzard | Kazakhstan | 1995 |
10. | 100 | Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 | United States | 1978 |
Communicable diseases
Pandemics killing at least 1,000,000 people:
Rank | Death toll (estimate) | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 100,000,000 approx. | Black Death | Asia, Europe, Africa | 1300s–1720s |
2. | 50,000,000–100,000,000 | Spanish Flu | Worldwide | 1918–1920 |
3. | 40,000,000–100,000,000 | Plague of Justinian | Asia, Europe, Africa | 540–590 |
4. | 12,000,000 ? | Third Pandemic of Bubonic Plague | Worldwide | 1850s–1950s |
5. | 5,000,000 | Antonine Plague | Roman Empire | 165–180 |
6. | 4,000,000 | Asian Flu | Worldwide | 1956–1958 |
Other deadly communicable diseases. Death counts are historical totals unless indicated otherwise.
Rank | Death toll (estimate) | Disease | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1. | 300,000,000 approx. | Smallpox | 1900 to eradication.[9] Declared eradicated May 8, 1980.[10] |
2. | 200,000,000 ? | Measles | last 150 years[11] |
3. | 80,000,000–250,000,000 | Malaria | 20th century – present[update] |
4. | 40,000,000–100,000,000 | Tuberculosis | 20th century – present[update][11] |
5. | 25,250,000 | AIDS pandemic | 1981–present. |
6. | at least 250,000 annually | Seasonal influenza | As of April 2009[update][12] |
Cyclones (including hurricanes)
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 500,000 | 1970 Bhola cyclone | East Pakistan, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) | November 13, 1970 |
2. | 300,000 | 1839 Indian cyclone | India | November 25, 1839 |
3. | 300,000[13] | 1737 Calcutta cyclone | India | October 7, 1737 |
4. | 210,000 | Super Typhoon Nina—contributed to Banqiao Dam failure | China | August 7, 1975 |
5. | 200,000[14] | Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 | present day Bangladesh | October 30, 1876 |
6. | ~146,000 | Cyclone Nargis | Myanmar | May 2, 2008 |
7. | 138,866 | 1991 Bangladesh cyclone | Bangladesh | April 29, 1991 |
8. | 100,000 | 1882 Bombay cyclone | Bombay, India | 1882 |
9. | 60,000 | 1922 Swatow Typhoon | China | August 1, 1922 |
10. | 60,000 | 1864 Calcutta Cyclone | India | October 5, 1864 |
Earthquakes
This article appears to contradict the article Lists_of_earthquakes#Deadliest_earthquakes_on_record. |
Famines
This article appears to contradict the article List of famines. |
Note: Some of these famines may be caused or partially caused by humans.
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 15,000,000–43,000,000 | Great Chinese Famine | China | 1958–1961 |
2. | 24,000,000 | Chinese Famine of 1907 | China | 1907 |
3. | 19,000,000 | Indian Famine | British India | 1896–1902 |
4. | 15,000,000 | Bengal famine of 1770, incl. Bihar & Orissa | India | 1769–1771 |
5. | 13,000,000 | Northern Chinese Famine | China | 1876–1879 |
6. | 10,000,000 | Indian Great Famine of 1876–78 | India | 1876–1879 |
7. | 7,500,000 | Great European Famine | Europe (all) | 1315–1317 |
8. | 7,000,000-10,000,000 | Soviet famine of 1932–1933 (Holodomor) | Soviet Union | 1932–1934 |
9. | 5,000,000 | Chinese Famine of 1936 | China | 1936 |
10. | 5,000,000 | Russian famine of 1921 | Russia, Ukraine | 1921–1922 |
11. | 3,000,000 | Chinese Drought 1941 | China | 1941 |
12. | 3,000,000 | Chinese Famine of 1928–1930 | China | 1928–1930 |
13. | 2,000,000 | Russian famine of 1601–1603 | Russia (Muscovy) | 1601–1603 |
14. | 2,000,000 | Vietnamese Famine of 1945 | Vietnam | 1943–1945 |
15. | 2,000,000 | Deccan Famine of 1630–32 | India | 1630–1632 |
16. | 1,500,000–4,000,000 | Bengal Famine of 1943 | India | 1943 |
17. | 1,200,000-3,500,000 | North Korean famine | North Korea | 1996–1998 |
18. | 1,000,000–1,500,000 | Great Irish Famine | Ireland | 1846–1849 |
19. | 1,000,000 | 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia | Ethiopia | 1984 |
20. | 1,000,000 | Horn of Africa famine | Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia | 1888 |
21. | 26,000–1,000,000 | Bangladesh famine of 1974—Official records claim 26,000. However, various sources claim about 1,000,000. | Bangladesh | 1974 |
22. | 150,000+ | Finnish famine of 1866–1868 | Finland, northern Sweden | 1866–1868 |
Floods and landslides
Note: Some of these floods and landslides may be partially caused by humans, for example, the dams, levees, seawalls and retaining walls failure.
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 2,500,000–3,700,000[17] | 1931 China floods | China | 1931 |
2. | 900,000–2,000,000 | 1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood | China | 1887 |
3. | 500,000–700,000 | 1938 Yellow River (Huang He) flood | China | 1938 |
4. | 231,000 | Banqiao Dam failure, result of Typhoon Nina. Approximately 86,000 people died from flooding and another 145,000 died during subsequent disease. | China | 1975 |
5. | 145,000 | 1935 Yangtze river flood | China | 1935 |
6. | more than 100,000 | St. Felix's Flood, storm surge | Netherlands | 1530 |
7. | 100,000 | Hanoi and Red River Delta flood | North Vietnam | 1971 |
8. | 100,000 | 1911 Yangtze river flood | China | 1911 |
9. | 50,000–80,000 | St. Lucia's flood, storm surge | Netherlands | 1287 |
10. | 2,400 | North Sea flood, storm surge | Netherlands, England, Belgium | 31 January 1953 |
Heat waves
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 56,000 | 2010 Russian heat wave | Russia | 2010 |
2. | 40,000 | 2003 European heat wave | Europe | 2003 |
3. | 5,000–10,000 | 1988 United States heat wave | United States | 1988 |
4. | 1,700 | 1980 United States heat wave | United States | 1980 |
5. | 1,500 | 2003 Southern India heat wave | India | 2003 |
6. | 946 | 1955 Los Angeles heat wave | United States | 1955 |
7. | 891 | 1972 New York City heat wave | United States | 1972 |
8. | 739 | 1995 Chicago heat wave | United States | 1995[18] |
9. | 503 | 2010 Japanese heat wave | Japan | 2010 [citation needed] |
Limnic eruptions
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1,746 | Lake Nyos | Cameroon | 1986 |
2. | 37 | Lake Monoun | Cameroon | 1984 |
Storms (non-cyclone)
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 15,100 | Torrential rains and mudslides | Venezuela | 1999 |
2. | 1,000 | Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides | Brazil | 2011 |
3. | 500 | Lofoten, Heavy storm | Norway | 1849 |
4. | 250 | Great Lakes Storm of 1913 | United States and Canada (Great Lakes region) | 1913 |
5. | 242 | 1996 Amarnath Yatra tragedy | India | 1996 |
6. | 210 | Trøndelag, storm ("Follastormen") | Norway | 1625 |
7. | 189 | Eyemouth, Scotland, storm ("Black Friday") | United Kingdom | 1881 |
8. | 140 | Trøndelag, storm ("Titran disaster") | Norway | 1899 |
9. | 128 | 2008 Santa Catarina floods and mudslides | Brazil | 2008 |
10. | 96 | Lofoten, storm | Norway | 1868 |
Tornadoes
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1,300 | The Daulatpur-Salturia Tornado | Manikganj, Bangladesh | April 26, 1989 |
2. | 923 | 1969 East Pakistan Tornado | East Pakistan, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) | 1969 |
3. | 695 | The Tri-State Tornado | United States (Missouri–Illinois–Indiana) | March 18, 1925 |
4. | 681 | 1973 Dhaka Tornado | Bangladesh | 1973 |
5. | 600 | The Valetta, Malta Tornado | Malta | 1551 |
6. | 500 | The Sicily Tornadoes | Sicily, Two Sicilies (now Italy) | 1851 |
6. | 500 | The Narail-Magura Tornadoes | Jessore, East Pakistan, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) | 1964 |
6. | 500 | The Comoro Tornado | Comoro | 1951 |
9. | 440 | The Tangail Tornado | Bangladesh | 1988 |
10. | 400 | The Ivanovo-Yaroslavl, Russia, Tornado | Soviet Union (now Russia) | 1984 |
Tsunamis
Rank |
Death toll |
Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 230,210 | 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami | Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Malaysia, Somalia, Bangladesh, Thailand | 26 December, 2004 |
2. | 123,000[1] | 1908 Messina earthquake/tsunami | Messina, Italy | 1908 |
3. | 100,000 | 1755 Lisbon earthquake/tsunami/fire | Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Cornwall) | 1755 |
4. | 36,000 | Caused by 1883 eruption of Krakatoa | Indonesia | 1883 |
5. | 30,000 | 1707 Hōei earthquake | Tōkaidō/Nankaido, Japan | 1707 |
6. | 25,674 | 1868 Arica earthquake/tsunami | Arica, Chile | 1868 |
7. | 22,070 | 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake | Sanriku, Japan | 1896 |
8. | 15,729 to 20,368* | 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami | Iwate/Miyagi/Fukushima, Japan | 11 March, 2011 |
9. | 15,030 | 1792 Mount Unzen eruption in southwest Kyūshū /tsunami | Kyūshū, Japan | 1792 |
10. | 12,000 | 1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami | Yaeyama, Okinawa, Japan | 1771 |
11. | Unknown | Kaveripattinam(Poompuhar) Tsunami | Poompuhar, TamilNadu, India | 400 AD |
* Most recent official figures, from National Police Agency, 24 Aug 2011.[19]
Volcanic eruptions
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 92,000 | Mount Tambora (see also Year Without a Summer) | Indonesia | April 10, 1815 |
2. | 36,000 | Krakatoa | Indonesia | August 26–27, 1883 |
3. | 33,000 | Mount Vesuvius | Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy | August 24, 79 |
4. | 29,000 | Mount Pelée | Martinique | May 7 or May 8, 1902 |
5. | 23,000 | Nevado del Ruiz (Armero tragedy) | Colombia | November 13, 1985 |
6. | 15,000 | Mount Unzen | Japan | 1792 |
7. | 10,000 | Mount Kelut | Indonesia | 1586 |
8. | 9,350 | Laki. Killed about 25% of the population (33% were killed about 70 years before by smallpox) | Iceland | June 8, 1783 |
9. | 6,000 | Santa Maria | Guatemala | 1902 |
10. | 5,115 | Mount Kelut | Indonesia | May 19, 1919 |
A supervolcanic eruption at Lake Toba around 74,000 years ago could have wiped out as much as 99% of the global human population, reducing the population from a possible 60 million to less than 10 thousand; see Toba catastrophe theory. However, this theory may not be widely accepted because the evidence could possibly be disputed, and there have been, for instance, no remains found.[citation needed] The eruption is not listed here as it was pre-historic and outside the scope of this article. Also, the Thera eruption in the Aegean Sea between 1550 and 1650 BC may have caused a large number of deaths throughout the region, from Crete to Egypt. See also La Garita Caldera, Yellowstone Caldera, and Supervolcanoes.
Wildfires and bushfires
Rank | Death toll | Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1,200–2,500 | Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin | United States | October 8, 1871 |
2. | 1,200 | Kursha-2 Fire | Soviet Union | August 3, 1936 |
3. | 453 | Cloquet Fire, Minnesota | United States | October 12, 1918 |
4. | 418 | Great Hinckley Fire, Minnesota | United States | September 1, 1894 |
5. | 282 | Thumb Fire, Michigan | United States | September 5, 1881 |
6. | 273 | Matheson Fire, Ontario | Canada | July 29, 1916 |
7. | 240 | Sumatra and Kalimantan Fires | Indonesia | 1997 |
8. | 230 | Landes region | France | 1949 |
9. | 213 | Black Dragon Fire | China | May 1987 |
10. | 173 | Black Saturday bushfires | Australia | February 7 – March 14, 2009 |
11. | 167 | Fires of Needle Ridge | United States | February 12 – April 4, 1980 |
12. | 110 | Parana Forest Fire | Brazil | 1963 [citation needed] |
13. | 71 | Black Friday bushfires (1939) | Australia | January 13, 1939 |
See also
- List of all known deadly earthquakes since 1900
- List of natural disasters in Haiti
- List of natural disasters in the United States
- Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
- Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth
Other lists organized by death toll
- List of wars and disasters by death toll
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- List of battles and other violent events by death toll
- List of disasters in Australia by death toll
- List of Canadian disasters by death toll
- List of New Zealand disasters by death toll
- List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
- List of United States disasters by death toll
- Tsunamis in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ a b c d e f The world's worst natural disasters Calamities of the 20th and 21st centuries CBC News'.' Retrieved 2010-10-29.
- ^ "NOVA Online | Flood! | Dealing with the Deluge". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "Top 10 Deadliest Earthquakes". Time. January 13, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ "Magnitude 7.0 - HAITI REGION". Earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "The Worst Natural Disasters by Death Toll" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2008-04-06. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
- ^ Understanding Global Security, Peter Hough, 2008, chapter 8, page 192, table 8.1 'The ten worst natural disasters in history'
- ^ cite web|url=http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2010/us2010rja6/#summary
- ^ a b "The Peru Earthquake: A Special Study". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Oct 1970: 18.
- ^ "UC Davis Magazine, Summer 2006: Epidemics on the Horizon". Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ Smallpox and bioterrorism, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 81 no. 10 Genebra October 2003 ISSN 0042-9686
- ^ a b "Torrey EF and Yolken RH. 2005. Their bugs are worse than their bite. Washington Post, April 3, p. B01". Birdflubook.com. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Influenza (Seasonal), World Health Organization, April 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ^ "10 'Worst' Natural Disasters". Eas.slu.edu. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ ThinkQuest Team #C003603. "Hurricanes: case studies". Library.thinkquest.org. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Magnitude 7.0 - HAITI REGION
- ^ "Listado de Terremotos Históricos". Inpres.gov.ar. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "Worst Natural Disasters In History". Nbc10.com. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Eric Klinenberg (July 30, 2002). "Dead Heat: Why don't Americans sweat over heat-wave deaths?". Slate. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Damage Situation and Police Countermeasures associated with 2011Tohoku district - off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake" (PDF).