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.



Kurdish PKK Says Held 'Successful' Meeting on Disbanding

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Kurdish PKK Says Held 'Successful' Meeting on Disbanding

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) held a "successful" meeting this week with a view to disarming and disbanding, a Kurdish news agency close to the armed movement said on Friday.  

The meeting resulted in "decisions of historic importance concerning the PKK's activities, based on the call" of founder Abdullah Ocalan, who in February urged the movement to dissolve, the ANF agency said.  

The congress, which was held between Monday and Wednesday, took place in the "Media Defense Zones" -- a term used by the movement to designate the Kandil mountains of northern Iraq where the PKK military command is located, the agency reported.  

The PKK did not explicitly say it was dissolving but added that it would share "full and detailed information with regard to the outcome of this congress very soon", it said.

On February 27, Ocalan urged his fighters to disarm and disband, ending a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.  

In his historic call -- in a letter read out by pro-Kurdish delegates at a news conference in Istanbul -- Ocalan urged the PKK to hold a congress to formalize the decision.  

Days later, the PKK's leadership accepted Ocalan's call, declaring a ceasefire.

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned there will be harsh consequences "if the promises are not kept" or the militants delay disarming.  

The pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy party (DEM), the third largest party in Türkiye's parliament, hailed the news in a statement on Friday.  

"With the PKK's historic congress decisions, we are one step closer to the horizon of peace after fifty years of conflict," it said.  

"This is a step towards the re-emergence and development of peace and democratic politics that have been longed for, for centuries, in the heart of our ancient lands."  

DEM's spokesperson Aysegul Dogan had told a news conference before the announcement of the congress: "We are ready to fulfill all our responsibilities with courage, devotion and determination for a Türkiye where we can all breathe together, where an equal, fair and permanent peace is achieved and where our vision of a democratic society is realized."  

A DEM delegation held talks with Ocalan in his prison island off Istanbul, as well as with Turkish political parties and contacts in Iraq.

Turkish media reported that the PKK delayed announcement of the congress because DEM delegation member Sirri Sureyya Onder died on Saturday aged 62.  

Onder was a veteran politician who won respect across Türkiye's political spectrum for his efforts to end years of Kurdish conflict.  

"It is highly probable that PKK already gathered its congress and delayed the announcement because of Onder's death," a DEM source told AFP.  

"This also fits the calendar previously announced" by nationalist MHP party leader Devlet Bahceli, a strong ally of Erdogan and a key figure in efforts to resume talks, the source added.  

Bahceli had proposed the PKK meet in Malazgirt near Lake Van in Türkiye's far east on May 4.