In the past decade, several quakes around the world have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Mexico City, killing scores of people. In the past decade, several quakes around the world have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Here’s a look at some of the deadliest quakes in the past 10 or so years:
More than 8,000 people were killed on April 25,2015, after a magnitude-7.8 quake hit Nepal. More than a dozen died after an avalanche on Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain above sea level. Deaths were also reported in India, Tibet and Bangladesh. The United Nations estimated 8 million people were affected. Less than a month later on May 12,2015, another strong quake — this time a magnitude-7.3 — again struck Nepal, killing dozens more. Combined, the April and May quakes marked the deadliest disaster on record in the Himalayan nation.
A magnitude-6.2 earthquake left more than 700 dead near Wenping, China, on Aug. 3,2014. The strong quake struck the remote, mountainous part of China’s southwest. More than 12,000 homes were toppled and nearly 2,000 people were injured. The epicenter was in Ludian County, in the city of Zhaotong in southwest Yunnan province — a known earthquake belt. It was the strongest quake to hit the province in 14 years.
A magnitude-7.7 quake hit the remote, southwestern province of Baluchistan, killing at least 825 people on Sept. 24,2013. In the town of Dalbadi, nearly all of the village’s 350 homes were destroyed.
Nearly 16,000 people were killed when the magnitude-9.0 quake struck off the coast of Japan on March 11,2011, triggering a tsunami as high as 90 feet in some areas. More than 2,600 are still listed as missing four years after the disaster, which washed away entire towns and communities along the nation’s northeast coast. The earthquake was the largest ever to strike Japan.
At least 700 people were killed when a magnitude-8.8 quake struck off the coast of Chile on Feb. 27,2010. About 1.5 million residents of the nation were affected and 500,000 homes were severely damaged. The quake spurred a tsunami that killed several on a Chilean island.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake tore through the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12,2010, killing an estimated 316,000 people. The quake left 1.5 million homeless. Five years later, many people still live in tent cities that sprung up after the disaster.
At least 1,100 people were killed by a powerful magnitude-7.5 temblor that hit Indonesia on Sept. 30,2009. The quake started at sea and rippled through Sumatra, the westernmost island in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the confirmed deaths were in the town of Padang, where more than 500 buildings were severely damaged.
In Chnia’s worst natural disaster in a generation, nearly 90,000 were killed when a magnitude-7.9 quake struck Sichuan province in the central part of the nation on May 12,2008. About 5 million were left homeless in the three hardest-hit provinces and the quake caused more than $122 billion in direct economic losses.
The magnitude-8.0 earthquake was felt nearly 100 miles away from its epicenter off the coast of Peru on Aug. 15,2007. More than 500 people were killed. The temblor devastated cities of adobe and brick in Peru’s southern desert, where the center of destruction was located in the city of Ica and nearby port of Pisco, about 125 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.
A magnitude-6.3 quake hit Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island on May 26,2006, killing more than 5,700 people. About 650,000 people were displaced by the disaster and more than 30,000 were injured. More than 135,000 houses were reduced to rubble.
The magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck the mountains of northern Pakistan on Oct. 8,2005, leaving 80,000 people dead. The temblor flattened entire villages of mud-brick homes and triggered landslides in the Kashmir region of the nation. The quake was centered about 60 miles northeast of the capital of Islamabad.
More than 1,300 were killed when a magnitude-8.6 quake struck on March 28,2005. Most of the deaths occurred on Indonesia’s Nias island, a popular surfing spot off Sumatra island’s west coast.
The most powerful earthquake in 40 years — a magnitude-9.1 that hit near the Indonesian island of Sumatra — spurred a tsunami that sent 20-foot waves crashing into several Asian nations. About 230,000 people were killed.
Source: USA TODAY research and the U. S. Geological Survey
