The most deadly earthquakes worldwide in the past century
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Your support makes all the difference.A huge earthquake in Haiti left tens of thousands of casualties, the nation's envoy to the Organization of American States told AFP Wednesday.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of earthquakes causing the largest numbers of casualties worldwide in the last century, with estimates of surface magnitude. The Richter scale of magnitude did not come into being until 1935:
May 12, 2008
Sichuan province, China: 87,000 dead or missing. Magnitude 8.0.
October 8, 2005
Indian and Pakistani Kashmir: at least 75,000 killed. Magnitude 7.6
December 26, 2004
Asia: An undersea earthquake unleashes a tsunami, that kills more than 220,000 people in around 10 countries around the Indian Ocean. Magnitude 9.1
December 26, 2003
BAM, Iran: At least 31,000 people die. Magnitude 6.7
January 26, 2001
Gujarat, western India: 25,000 dead. Magnitude 7.9
August 17, 1999
Northwestern Turkey: at least 20,000 dead. Magnitude 7.4
June 20, 1990
Northwestern Iran: 37,000 killed. Magnitude 7.7
December 7, 1988
Spitak, Soviet Armenia: 25,000 dead. Magnitude 7.0
September 19, 1985
Mexico City, Mexico: At least 10,000 killed. Magnitude 8.1
September 16, 1978
Tabass, Iran: 25,000 killed. Magnitude 7.2
July 28, 1976
Tangshan city in Hebei province, China: 242,000 dead. Magnitude 7.8
February 4, 1976
Guatemala: 26,000 dead. Magnitude 7.5
May 11, 1974
Sichuan, China: Estimates of between 10,000 and 20,000 dead. Magnitude 7.1
December 23, 1972
Managua, Nicaragua: About 10,000 killed. Magnitude 6.3
May 31, 1970
Mount Huascaran, Peru: Earthquake and subsequent avalanche killed 66,800. Magnitude 7.5
January 1, 1970
Yunnan, China: Officially, 15,621 dead. Magnitude 7.3
August 31, 1968
Northeast Iran: 10,000 dead. Magnitude 7.3
September 1, 1962
Qazvin, Iran: 12,000 dead. Magnitude 6.9
February 29, 1960
Agadir, Morocco: 12,000 people killed. Magnitude 6.7
January 1, 1939
Chillan, Chile: At least 28,000 killed. Magnitude 7.8
December 26, 1939
Erzincan, Turkey: 35-40,000 killed. Magnitude 8.0
May 30, 1935
Quetta, India (now Pakistan): More than 50,000 killed. Magnitude 7.6
January 15, 1934
Bihar, India: At least 10,700 killed. Other reports put the toll far higher. Magnitude 8.3
December, 1932
Gansu province, China: Around 70,000 may have died. Magnitude 8.0
May 22, 1927
Nanshan province, China: Up to 200,000 people may have been killed. Magnitude 8.0
September 1, 1923
Yokohama, Japan: More than 143,000 people died in earthquake and subsequent fire. Magnitude 8.2
December 16, 1920
Northwestern China: More than 100,000 reported killed. Magnitude 8.5
January 13, 1915
Avezzano, Italy: Nearly 30,000 reported killed. Magnitude 7.0
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