The worst earthquakes the world has seen

Earthquakes have killed millions of people over the past 23 years, and advances in technology have reduced the death toll only slightly.

February 6, 2023

A 7.8 Richter scale earthquake struck the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep at dawn on February 6, followed some nine hours later by another 7.5 earthquake in Kahramanmaraş state. Damage was inflicted in southern Turkey and northern Syria, with the initial death toll between the two countries estimated at 5,000 as rescue work continues.

August 14, 2021

More than 2,248 people died and more than 160,000 were injured in the quake that shook the town of Petite-True-des-Nepes, 150 kilometers west of the capital, Port-au-Prince.  The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.2 on the Richter scale.

September 28, 2018

A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck central Sulawesi in Indonesia, triggering a medium tsunami on Palu beach. The damage caused by the earthquake was described as catastrophic, killing at least 1,347 people and injuring 632 others, as well as destroying infrastructure.

November 12, 2017

An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck the Iran-Iraq border. At least 400 people were killed and more than 7,000 injured in the quake, which was also felt in Israel and across the Gulf.

August 24, 2016

At least 298 people died when a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck central Italy. The area most affected by the quake was the city of Amatrice, where many of the city's historic buildings collapsed.

April 25, 2015

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 8,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, in the worst natural disaster to hit Nepal since 1934. In some parts of the country, the quake destroyed 98 percent of homes .

August 3, 2014

Some 600 people died in a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck China's Yunnan province. The earthquake destroyed thousands of houses and many landslides, injuring more than 2,400 people.

September 25, 2013

More than 300 people died as a result of the 7.7-magnitude quake that destroyed entire villages in Pakistan's remote southwestern province of Balochistan, especially in the Awaran district.

August 11, 2012

At least 250 people have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in northwestern Iran as a result of two powerful earthquakes that struck within minutes in the cities of Tabriz and Ahar. 

March 11, 2011

A devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, leaving more than 20,000 dead or missing. The quake triggered huge tsunamis along the Japanese coast and triggered the world's biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

February 27, 2010

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile, northeast of Concepción, the country's second-largest city, killing more than 700 people.

September 30, 2009

More than a thousand people have died after an earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

May 12, 2008

About 87,000 people were killed or missing, and nearly 370,000 people were injured in the quake in southwest China's Sichuan province.

The quake, which measured 7. 8 on the Richter scale, struck 57 miles from Chengdu, the provincial capital, in the afternoon.

August 15, 2007

At least 519 people died in the coastal province of Ica, Peru, when a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck 90 miles southeast of the capital Lima.

July 17, 2006

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that struck 200 kilometers (125 miles) off the southern coast of the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 650 people.

March 28, 2005

Some 1,300 people were killed in an 8.7-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Nias, west of Sumatra.

December 26, 2004

Hundreds of thousands of people died across Asia when a magnitude 9.2 earthquake triggered sea storms across the region.

May 21, 2003

Algeria experienced its worst earthquake in more than two decades, killing more than 2,000 people and injuring more than 8,000.

October 31, 2002

Italy was shocked when it lost an entire class of children killed in the southern town of San Giuliano di Puglia when a school building collapsed on them.