Hundreds of thousands of people died: which earthquakes were the deadliest in the last 25 years

The terrible 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 6 shook the planet with a catastrophic scale of destruction. According to the latest information, the total number of people killed in Turkey and Syria as of the morning of February 10 is over 20,000.

Emergency teams are still searching for survivors, and in some areas, demolition work is underway to remove heavily damaged buildings. Аp News has collected statistics on the largest earthquakes over the past 25 years.

In the summer of 2022, an earthquake shook the territory of Afghanistan. The tremors reached 6.1 magnitude. As a result, more than 1,100 people died. The tragedy occurred after midnight at 01:30 local time, when people were sleeping peacefully in their homes. The epicentre was 44 km from the southeastern town of Host.

On August 14, 2021, at 08:29 local time, aftershocks hit Haiti. More than 2200 people died as a result of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Residents of Jamaica also felt the tremors. The catastrophe has created a threat of serious tsunamis.

While the tsunami fortunately did not occur in Haiti, a large-scale tragedy occurred in Indonesia on September 28, 2018. After an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4-7.5, a huge wave was formed, caused by underground tremors and an underwater landslide. More than 4,300 people died. The tsunami reached a height of up to 7 metres.

Nepal was hit by an earthquake on April 25, 2015. It killed more than 8800 people.

The Great Tohoku Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, killing more than 18,400 people. It was rated at 9 on the Richter scale. The disaster occurred at 14:46 local time in the Tohoku region of Northeast Japan. The Pacific coast was hit by a 10-12 metre high tsunami. The consequences of the destruction were terrible. On March 11, an accident occurred at the First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

On January 12, 2010, Haiti was also hit by an earthquake. According to government estimates, the death toll reached a staggering 316,000.

On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck eastern Sichuan in China, killing more than 87,500 people.

On May 27, 2006, more than 5,700 people were killed in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on the island of Java, Indonesia.

On October 8, 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed more than 80,000 people in the Kashmir region of Pakistan.

Indonesia is often affected by earthquakes. On March 28, 2005, an 8.6-magnitude earthquake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, killed about 1,300 people. A few months earlier, on December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake in Indonesia triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, killing about 230,000 people. It was a terrible disaster.

The earthquake was the result of a shift in the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates in the Indian Ocean.

More than 20,000 people died as a result of the earthquake in Iran on December 26, 2003. The Richter scale recorded a magnitude of 6.6.

On May 21, 2003, more than 2,200 people died as a result of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Algeria.

The tragedy occurred on January 26, 2001 in India. More than 20,000 people died as a result of powerful aftershocks.

This is not the first time in the last 25 years that Turkey has been affected by earthquakes. In mid-August 1999, the epicentre of the tremors was recorded in the Turkish city of Izmit. More than 18,000 people died then.

On May 30, 1998, more than 4,000 people died as a result of a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that struck the Afghan province of Badakhshan.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL told where to hide during a sudden earthquake.

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