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Following the deadly earthquakes that shook Turkey and Syria during the week, with Turkey recording over 20,000 deaths and Syria recording over 4,000 deaths, the earthquakes in the two countries have been regarded as one of the most devastated in recent times.
However, available records showed that some earthquakes were so devastating in history that they recorded a very high human casualty, with one of them claiming 830,000 people in its wake.
Below are some of the devastating earthquakes in history, with many of them recorded in the 21st Century.
- January 23, 1556, Shaanxi, China, with 830,000 deaths: It was regarded as the world’s deadliest earthquake. According to reports, the earthquake was responsible for the devastation of 97 counties and eight provinces in Central China and extended over an area of 520 kilometres.
- July 28, 1976, Tangshan Province in China (655,000 deaths): The 8.2 magnitude quake lasted for just 23 seconds and leveled 90 per cent of Tangshan’s buildings, killing 655,000 people. It came during the heat of midsummer and once the quake was over, many stunned survivors scrambled out into the open, covered only in dust and blood, to see the entire city leveled and bodies all over.
- January 12, 2010, Port au Prince, Haiti (316,000 deaths): A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, leaving its capital, Port-au-Prince, devastated. During the tragedy, the Haitian government estimated that 250,000 houses and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or were severely damaged while about 316,000 citizens died.
- December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean (300,000 deaths):The earthquake was regarded as the third-largest ever recorded and the largest in the 21st century and lasted for between eight and ten minutes. It was gathered that the tsunami that followed recorded wave heights at over 30 metres and it is estimated to have caused the deaths of 300,000 people.
- October 8, 2005, Kashmir Earthquake (87,350): According to the Pakistani government, the official death toll stood at 87,350 although it is estimated that the death toll could have reached over 100,000. Over 138,000 were injured and over 3.5 million were rendered homeless after the quake that lasted for 60 seconds.
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