Ten Deadliest Quakes of the 21st Century

A picture taken with a drone shows a general view over an area with many collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Türkiye, 13 February 2023. (EPA)
A picture taken with a drone shows a general view over an area with many collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Türkiye, 13 February 2023. (EPA)
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Ten Deadliest Quakes of the 21st Century

A picture taken with a drone shows a general view over an area with many collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Türkiye, 13 February 2023. (EPA)
A picture taken with a drone shows a general view over an area with many collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Türkiye, 13 February 2023. (EPA)

The massive earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria on February 6 is the fifth-deadliest this century.

Here is a list of the 10 worst quakes since 2000, ranked by death toll:

2004: 230,000 dead, southeast Asia

On December 26, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that kills more than 230,000 people throughout the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia alone.

Waves 30 meters (100 feet) high, travelling at 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour), swallow everything in their path.

2010: 200,000 dead, Haiti

A magnitude 7 quake on January 12 devastates the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.

The quake cuts the country off from the rest of the world for 24 hours, killing over 200,000 people, leaving 1.5 million homeless and shattering much of Haiti's frail infrastructure.

In October the same year, Haiti is also hit by a cholera epidemic introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers who arrived after the quake. It kills more than 10,000 people.

2008: 87,000 dead, Sichuan

More than 87,000 people, including 5,335 school pupils, are left dead or missing when a 7.9-magnitude quake strikes southwestern Sichuan province on May 12.

The quake causes outrage after it emerges that 7,000 schools were badly damaged, triggering accusations of shoddy construction, corner-cutting and possible corruption, especially as many other buildings nearby held firm.

2005: 73,000 dead, Kashmir

An October 8 earthquake kills more than 73,000 people, the vast majority in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir.

A further 3.5 million are displaced.

2023: 35,000 dead, Türkiye and Syria

On February 6, a 7.8-magnitude quake strikes near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.

The biggest quake in Türkiye in nearly a century, which is followed by a 7.5 magnitude tremor, reduces entire neighborhoods of cities in southeastern Türkiye and the north of war-ravaged Syria to rubble.

On February 13, the toll hits 35,224.

2003: 31,000 dead, Bam (Iran)

A 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran on December 26 destroys the ancient mud-brick city of Bam, killing at least 31,000 people.

Nearly 80 percent of Bam's infrastructure is damaged and the desert citadel, once considered the world's largest adobe building, crumbles.

2001: 20,000 dead, India

A massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake on January 26 hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing more than 20,000 people.

The quake flattens buildings across the state, with many fatalities in the town of Bhuj near the border with Pakistan.

2011: 18,500 dead, Japan

On March 11, Japan is struck by an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake, unleashing a towering tsunami.

Around 18,500 people are left dead or missing as the wall of water travelling at the speed of a jet plane levels communities along the northeastern coast.

The ensuing meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant blankets nearby areas with radiation, rendering some towns uninhabitable for years and displacing tens of thousands of residents.

2015: 9,000 dead, Nepal

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake on April 25 strikes in central Nepal, triggering avalanches and landslides across the Himalayan nation, destroying schools and hospitals.

The quake kills almost 9,000 people and renders millions homeless. It also reduces more than a hundred monuments to rubble, including centuries-old temples and royal palaces in the Kathmandu valley.

2006: 6,000 dead, Java

On May 26, a 6.3-magnitude quake rocks the southern coast of the Indonesian island of Java, near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people.

More than 420,000 are left homeless and around 157,000 houses are destroyed.



Aid Rushes Into Myanmar after Quake Kills Over 1,600

A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
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Aid Rushes Into Myanmar after Quake Kills Over 1,600

A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)

Myanmar's neighbors sent warships and aircraft laden with relief materials and rescue personnel on Sunday, as international aid gained steam after a massive earthquake ravaged much of the poor Southeast Asian nation.
At least 1,600 people have been killed and 3,400 injured by Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, its military government said.
"All military and civilian hospitals, as well as healthcare workers, must work together in a coordinated and efficient manner to ensure effective medical response," said the junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, according to state-run media.
The US Geological Service's predictive modelling estimated Myanmar's death toll could top 10,000 and losses could exceed the country's annual economic output, Reuters reported.
The quake jolted parts of neighboring Thailand, bringing down an under-construction skyscraper and killing 17 people across the capital, according to Thai authorities. At least 78 people remained trapped under the debris of the collapsed building.
The deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in years damaged critical infrastructure, including an airport, highways and bridges, slowing humanitarian operations, according to the United Nations.
The quake hit a nation already in chaos with a civil war that has escalated since the 2021 military coup, which ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and sparked a nationwide armed uprising.
The fighting has battered the largely agrarian economy of Myanmar, formerly called Burma, displaced over 3.5 million people and left essential services, such as healthcare, in tatters.
The opposition National Unity Government, which includes remnants of the previous administration, said anti-junta militias under its command would pause all offensive military actions for two weeks from Sunday.
"The NUG, together with resistance forces, allied organizations and civil society groups, will carry out rescue operations," it said in a statement.
In some of the country's hardest hit areas, residents told Reuters that government assistance was scarce so far, leaving people to fend for themselves.
The entire town of Sagaing near the quake's epicenter was devastated, said resident Han Zin.
"What we are seeing here is widespread destruction - many buildings have collapsed into the ground," he said by phone, adding that much of the town had been without electricity since the disaster hit and drinking water was running out.
"We have received no aid, and there are no rescue workers in sight."
Across the Irrawaddy river in Mandalay, a rescue worker said most operations in the country's second-largest city were being conducted by small, self-organized resident groups that lack the required equipment.
"We have been approaching collapsed buildings, but some structures remain unstable while we work,” he said, asking not to be named because of security concerns.
Scores of people were feared trapped under collapsed buildings across Mandalay but most could not be reached or pulled out without heavy machinery, another humanitarian worker and two residents said.
"People are still stuck in the buildings, they can't take people out," said a resident who asked not to be named.
Hospitals in parts of central and northwestern Myanmar, including Mandalay and Sagaing, were struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
India, China and Thailand are among the neighbors that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.
Indian military aircraft made multiple sorties into Myanmar on Saturday, including ferrying supplies and search-and-rescue crews to Naypyitaw, the purpose-made capital, parts of which have been wrecked by the earthquake.
The Indian army will help set up a field hospital in Mandalay, and two navy ships carrying supplies are heading to Myanmar's commercial capital of Yangon, said Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Multiple teams of Chinese rescue personnel have arrived, including one that crossed in overland from its southwestern province of Yunnan, China's embassy in Myanmar said on social media.
A 78-member team from Singapore, accompanied by rescue dogs, was operating in Mandalay on Sunday, Myanmar state-media said.