List of natural disasters by death toll

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List of natural disasters by death toll. (2009, June 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:40, June 14, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_natural_disasters_by_death_toll&oldid=296435321

A death toll is the number of fatalities as a result of any cause of death, such as violence (war, mass murder, genocide, terrorist attack), an accident, a natural disaster, extreme weather, infectious disease, etc.

Below is a list of various natural disasters by death toll. Most numbers are estimates and are often in dispute. The incidents are ranked from the highest to the lowest estimate given. This list is, by necessity, somewhat biased toward the modern period, due to better reporting of events.

Some events overlap categories.

Top 10 deadliest natural disasters ^[1]

Note: This list excludes diseases and famines, which would otherwise occupy the entire list.

Rank	Event	Location	Date	Death Toll (Estimate)
1.	1931 China floods	China	01931-01-01July-November, 1931	2,000,000–4,000,000*[2]
2.	1887 Yellow River flood	China	01887-01-01September-October, 1887	900,000–2,000,000
3.	1556 Shaanxi earthquake	Shaanxi Province, China	01556-01-01January 23, 1556	830,000
4.	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh	01970-01-01November 13, 1970	500,000
5.	1839 India Cyclone	India	01839-01-01November 25, 1839	300,000
6.	526 Antioch earthquake	Antioch, Turkey	00526-05-20May 20, 526	250,000
7.	1976 Tangshan earthquake	Tangshan, Hebei, China	01976-07-28July 28, 1976	242,000
8.	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	Haiyuan, Ningxia-Gansu, China	01920-12-16December 26, 1920	240,000
9.	1975 Banqiao Dam flood	Zhumadian, Henan Province, China	01975-08-07August 7, 1975	90,000–230,000
10.	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami	Indian Ocean	02004-12-26December 26, 2004	229,866

* 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.

Deadliest natural disasters by type of event

Event	Event name	Location	Date	Death Toll (Estimate)
Avalanche	Wellington avalanche	United States	01910-03-01March 1, 1910	00000096 ?96
Blizzard	Iran Blizzard	Iran	01972-02-01February 1972	00004000 ?4,000
Drought	Great Famine of 1876–78	India	01921-01-011876–1878	05000000 ?25,250,000
Earthquake	Shaanxi Earthquake	China	01556-01-01January 23, 1556	00830000 ?830,000
Flood	1931 China floods	China	01931-01-011931	04000000 ?2,000,000–4,000,000
Hailstorm	Roopkund, Uttaranchal	India	00800-01-019th century	00000600 ?200–600
Heat wave	2003 European heat wave	Europe	02003-01-01June-August 2003	00037451 ?37,451
Landslide	1999 Vargas mudslides	Venezuela	December 1999	00020006 ?20,006
Limnic Eruption	Lake Nyos	Cameroon	01986-01-01August 21, 1986	00001746 ?1,746
Pandemic	Spanish influenza	Worldwide	01918-01-011918–1920	100000000 ?20,000,000-100,000,000
Tornado	Saturia-Manikganj Sadar Tornado	Bangladesh	01989-04-26April 26, 1989	00001300 ?1,300
Tropical cyclone	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh	01970-11-13November 13, 1970	00500000 ?200,000–500,000
Tsunami	2004 Indian Ocean tsunami	Indian Ocean	02004-12-26December 26, 2004	00285000 ?230,000
Volcano	Mount Tambora	Indonesia	01815-01-011815	00092000 ?92,000
Wildfire	Peshtigo Fire	United States	01871-10-08October 8, 1871	00002000 ?2,000

Earthquakes

Rank	Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
1	$830,000	1556 Shaanxi earthquake	China	1556
2	$255,000	1976 Tangshan earthquake	China	1976
3	$240,000	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	China	1920
4	$230,000	1138 Aleppo earthquake	Syria	1138
5	$229,866	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake	Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand	2004
6	$200,000	Damghan earthquake	Iran	856
7	$150,000	Ardabil earthquake	Iran	893
8	$137,000	1730 Hokkaido earthquake	Japan	1730
9	$110,000	1948 Ashgabat earthquake	Turkmenistan	1948
10	$105,000	Great Kanto earthquake	Japan	1923
11	$100,000	Messina earthquake	Italy	1908
12	$100,000	1755 Lisbon earthquake	Portugal	1755
13	$100,000	Chihli earthquake	China	1290
14	$86,000	2005 Kashmir earthquake	Pakistan	2005
15	$85,000	Great Ansei Nankai Quakes, Japan (??????)	Japan	1854
16	$80,000	Shamakhi	Azerbaijan	1667
17	$77,000	Tabriz Earthquake	Iran	1727
18	$70,000	Changma, Gansu earthquake	China	1932
19	$ 69,197	2008 Sichuan earthquake	China	2008
20	$66,000	Ancash earthquake	Peru	1970
21	$60,000	Sicily earthquake[3]	Italy	1693
22	$60,000	1935 Balochistan earthquake	British India	1935
23	$50,000	Calabria earthquake	Italy	1783
24	$40,000	Gulang, Gansu earthquake	China	1927
25	$40,000	Meio Nankai, Japan (????) earthquake	Japan	1498
26	$40,000	Quito earthquake	Ecuador	1797
27	$37,000	Genroku earthquake (?????)	Japan	1703
28	$35,000	1990 Manjil Rudbar earthquake	Iran	1990
29	$32,962	1939 Erzincan earthquake	Turkey	1939
30	$30,000	Great Hoei Earthquake (?????)	Japan	1707
31	$ 30,000	2003 Bam earthquake	Iran	2003
32	$25,000	Spitak Earthquake	Armenia	1988
33	$25,000	1978 Tabas earthquake	Iran	1978
34	$23,700	Kamakura earthquake	Japan	1293
35	$23,000	Guatemala earthquake	Guatemala	1976
36	$20,000	Gujarat earthquake	India	2001
37	$20,000	1812 Caracas earthquake	Venezuela	1812
38	$20,000	Chillán earthquake	Chile	1939
39	$18,000	Khait earthquake	Tajikistan	1949
40	$17,118	Izmit earthquake	Turkey	1999
41	$15,000	1960 Agadir earthquake	Morocco	1960
42	$12,225	1962 Bou’in-Zahra earthquake	Iran	1962
43	$10,700	1934 Bihar earthquake	India	1934
44	$9,748	1993 Latur earthquake	India	1993
45	$9,500	1985 Mexico City earthquake	Mexico	1985
46	$9,000	1933 Diexi earthquake	China	1933
47	$8,064	1966 Xingtai Earthquake	China	1966
48	$7,000	1968 Dasht-e Bayaz and Ferdows earthquake	Iran	1968
49	$6,000	1960 Valdivia earthquake	Chile	1960
50	$5,300	1974 Hunza earthquake	Pakistan	1974
51	$4,000	1945 Balochistan earthquake	British India	1945
52	$3,894	1948 Fukui earthquake	Japan	1948
53	$3,000	1933 Sanriku earthquake	Japan	1933
54	$3,000	1906 San Francisco earthquake	United States	1906

Top 10 deadliest volcanic eruptions

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$ 2,000,000+ (in Russia alone, from resultant famine)	Huaynaputina (see also Russian famine of 1601–1603)	Peru	01815-01-011600
$ 92,000	Mount Tambora (see also Year Without a Summer)	Indonesia	01815-01-011815
$36,000	Krakatoa	Indonesia	01883-08-26August 26–27, 1883
$29,000	Mount Pelée	Martinique	01902-05-07May 7 or May 8, 1902
$23,000	Nevado del Ruiz	Colombia	01985-11-13November 13, 1985
$25,000	Mount Vesuvius	Italy	01631-01-011631
$15,000	Mount Unzen	Japan	01792-01-011792
$10,000	Mount Kelut	Indonesia	01586-01-011586
$9,350	Laki. Killed about 25% of the population (33% were killed about 70 years before by smallpox)	Iceland	01783-06-08 June 8, 1783
$6,000	Santa Maria	Guatemala	01902-01-011902
$5,115	Mount Kelut	Indonesia	01919-05-19 May 19, 1919

Notes

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 is not widely accepted because the evidence is disputed, and there have been, for instance, no remains found. 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 B.C. may have caused a large number of deaths throughout the region, from Crete to Egypt. See also La Garita Caldera, Yellowstone Caldera, and Supervolcanoes.

References

• Volcanoworld.org
• Global Volcanism Program
• USGS

Top 10 deadliest tsunamis

See Historic tsunami for more detailed information.

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$ > 229,866 (sources vary)	2004 Indian Ocean tsunami	Indian Ocean	2004
$100,000	1755 Lisbon earthquake/tsunami/fire	Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Cornwall)	1755
$100,000	1908 Messina earthquake/tsunami	Messina, Italy	1908
$36,000	caused by 1883 Krakatoa eruption	Indonesia	1883
$30,000		Tokaido/Nankaido, Japan	1707
$27,000		Japan	1826
$25,674	1868 Arica earthquake/tsunami	Arica, Chile	1868
$22,070		Sanriku, Japan	1896
$15,030	caused by 1792 Mount Unzen eruption in southwest Kyushu	Kyushu, Japan	1792
$13,486		Ryukyu Trench	1771

Limnic eruptions

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,746	Lake Nyos	Cameroon	1986
$37	Lake Monoun	Cameroon	1984

Extreme weather

Top 10 deadliest heatwaves

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
37,451	2003 European heat wave	Western Europe	02003-06-012003
3,418	2006 European heat wave	United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Romania	02006-01-012006
2,541	1998 India heat wave	India	01998-01-011998
1,900	2003 India heat wave	India	02003-01-012003
1,250–10,000	1980 United States heat wave	United States	01980-01-011980
1,000–1,500	1987 Mediterranean heat wave	Greece, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy	01987-01-011987
over 1,000	1994 East Asia heat wave	China, Japan, South Korea	01994-01-011994
739	Chicago Heat Wave of 1995	United States (Chicago, Illinois)	01995-01-011995
500	Hungary Heat Wave of 2007	Hungary	02007-01-012007
437	Southern regions, Australia 1895–1896	Australia	01895-01-011895–1896

Top 10 deadliest storms (non-cyclone)

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
15,100	Torrential rains and mudslides	Venezuela	1999
500	Lofoten, Heavy storm	Norway	1849
= 250	Great Lakes Storm of 1913	United States and Canada (Great Lakes region)	1913
210	Trøndelag, storm (“Follastormen”)	Norway	1625
189	Eyemouth, Scotland, storm (“Black Friday”)	United Kingdom	1881
140	Trøndelag, storm (“Titran disaster”)	Norway	1899
96	Lofoten, storm	Norway	1868
30	Haugesund, storm (“Røvær disaster”)	Norway	1899
26	Vesterålen, storm	Norway	1802

Top 10 deadliest tornadoes

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,300	The Saturia-Manikganj Sadar Tornado	Bangladesh (Manikganj)	1989
$923	1969 East Pakistan Tornado	Bangladesh	1969
$695	The Tri-State Tornado	United States (Missouri–Illinois–Indiana)	March 18, 1925
$681	1973 Dhaka Tornado	Bangladesh	1973
$600	The Malta Tornado	Malta	1551
$500	The Sicily Tornado	Italy	1851
$500	The Narail-Magura Tornadoes	Bangladesh (Jessore)	1964
$500	The Comoro Tornado	Comoro	1951
$440	The Tangail Tornado	Bangladesh	1996
$400	Ivanovo, Yaroslavl Tornado	Russia	1984

Top 10 deadliest cyclones

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
500,000 500,000	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh (East Pakistan)	1970
300,000 300,000	1839 Indian cyclone	India	1839
300,000 300,000	1881 Haiphong Typhoon	Vietnam	1881
300,000 300,000[4]	1737 Calcutta cyclone	India	1737
210,000 210,000	Super Typhoon Nina—contributed to Banqiao Dam failure	China	1975
200,000 200,000[5]	Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876	present day Bangladesh	1876
140,000 ~146,000	Cyclone Nargis	Myanmar	2008
138,866 138,866	1991 Bangladesh cyclone	Bangladesh	1991
060,000 100,000	1882 Bombay cyclone	Bombay, India	June 6, 1882
060,000 60,000	1922 Swatow Typhoon	China	1922
060,000 60,000	1864 Calcutta Cyclone	India	1864

References

• CRED EM-DAT
• Forces of Nature: Worst Disasters
• Epic Disasters: Deadliest Hurricanes

Top 10 deadliest floods and landslides

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
2,500,000–3,700,000[6]	1931 China floods	China	1931
900,000–2,000,000	1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood	China	1887
500,000–700,000	1938 Yellow River (Huang He) flood	China	1938
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
145,000	1935 Yangtze river flood	China	1935
more than 100,000	St. Felix’s Flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1530
100,000	Hanoi and Red River Delta flood	North Vietnam	1971
100,000	1911 Yangtze river flood	China	1911
50,000–80,000	St. Lucia’s flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1287
60,000	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1212

Top 10 deadliest wildfires and bushfires

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,200–2,500	Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin	United States	1871
$453	Cloquet Fire, Minnesota	United States	1918
$418	Great Hinckley Fire, Minnesota	United States	1894
$282	Thumb Fire, Michigan	United States	1881
$240	Sumatra, Kalimantan	Indonesia	1997
$233	Matheson Fire, Ontario	Canada	1916
$230	Landes region	France	1949
$213	Greater Hinggan, Heilongjiang	China	1987
$173	Black Saturday bushfires	Australia	2009
$160	Miramichi Fire, New Brunswick	Canada	1825

References

• Department of Sustainability and Environment
• Emergency Management Australia

Top 10 deadliest blizzards

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$4,000	Iran Blizzard	Iran	1972
$1,337[7]	2008 Afghanistan blizzard	Afghanistan	2008
$400	Great Blizzard of 1888	United States	1888
$318	1993 North American Storm Complex	United States	1993
$235	Schoolhouse Blizzard	United States	1888
$199	Hakkoda Mountains incident	Japan	1902
$144	Armistice Day Blizzard	United States	1940
$133	2008 Chinese winter storms	China	2008
$112	1995 Kazakh Blizzard	Kazakhstan	1995
$54	Blizzard of 1978	United States	1978

Contractible diseases

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
approx. 300,000,000	Smallpox	Worldwide	01901-01-0120th century alone[8]
approx. 100,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Black Death	Asia, Europe, Africa	01300-01-011300s–1720s
= 200,000,000	Measles	Worldwide	01851-01-01last 150 years[9]
80,000,000–250,000,000	Malaria	Worldwide	01900-01-0120th century – present[update]
50,000,000–100,000,000	Spanish Flu	Worldwide	01918-01-011918–1919[10]
40,000,000–100,000,000	Tuberculosis	Worldwide	01900-01-0120th century – present[update][9]
approx. 40,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Plague of Justinian	Asia, Europe, Africa	00540-01-01540–590
25,250,000	AIDS	Worldwide	01981-01-011981–present (as of 2007)
= 12,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Third Pandemic	Worldwide	01850-01-011850s–1950s
5,000,000	Antonine Plague	Roman Empire	00165-01-01165–180
4,000,000	Asian Flu pandemic	Worldwide	01957-01-011957
750,000	Hong Kong Flu pandemic	Worldwide	01968-01-011968
775	Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)	Mostly East Asia, few cases in Europe, Canada and United States	02002-01-012002–2003
677	West Nile Virus outbreak	North America	01999-01-011999–2004
256	H5N1 strain of Bird Flu	(mainly in Asia, few in Africa and Middle East)	02003-01-012003–present (as of 2007)

Famines

Please Note: Some of these famines may be partially or completely caused by humans.

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
4,900,000–43,000,000	Great Chinese Famine	China	1958–1961
24,000,000	Chinese Famine of 1907	China	1907
19,000,000	Indian Famine	India	1896–1902
15,000,000	Bengal famine of 1770, incl. Bihar & Orissa	India	1769–1771
13,000,000	Northern Chinese Famine	China	1876–1879
10,000,000	Southern and Central Indian Famine	India	1876–1879
7,500,000	Great European Famine	Europe (all)	1315–1317
5,000,000	Chinese Famine of 1936	China	1936
5,000,000	Soviet famine of 1932–1933	Soviet Union	1932–1934
5,000,000	Russian famine of 1921	Russia, Ukraine	1921–1922
4,000,000	Bengal famine of 1943	India	1943
3,000,000	Chinese Drought 1941	China	1941
3,000,000	Chinese Famine of 1928–1930	China	1928–1930
2,000,000	Russian famine of 1601–1603	Russia (Muscovy)	1601–1603
1,000,000-1,500,000	Great Irish Famine	Ireland (part of UK)	1846–1849
2,000,000	Vietnamese War Famine	Vietnam	1943–1945
1,500,000–3,000,000	Bengal Famine of 1943	India	1943
1,200,000	North Korean famine	North Korea	1996–1998
1,000,000	1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia	Ethiopia	1984
1,000,000	Horn of Africa famine	Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia	1888
26,000-1,000,000	Bangladesh famine of 1974—Official records claim 26,000. However, various sources claim about 1,000,000.	Bangladesh	1974
150,000	Finnish famine of 1866–1868	Finland	1866–1868
18,000	Dutch famine of 1944	The Netherlands	1944

Footnotes

See also

• List of disasters
• List of earthquakes
• List of famines
• List of epidemics
• List of all known deadly earthquakes since 1900
• Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth