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.



Israeli Air Force Deploys First Laser Interception System

FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
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Israeli Air Force Deploys First Laser Interception System

FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa

Israel's defense ministry said on Sunday it had deployed a new "Iron Beam" laser system for the air force to intercept aerial threats.

The laser system's main developers, the ministry's research and development department and defense contractor Rafael, delivered it to the air force at a ceremony in northern Israel.

"For the first time globally, a high-power laser interception system has achieved full operational maturity, successfully executing multiple interceptions," Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the ceremony, according to a statement.

"This monumental achievement... delivers a critical message to our enemies, near and far alike: do not challenge us, or face severe consequences," AFP quoted him as saying.

The handover marks a major milestone in a project more than a decade old.
"Israel has become the first country in the world to field an operational laser system for the interception of aerial threats, including rockets and missiles," said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of Rafael.

The laser system seeks to enhance and slash the cost of Israel's interception of projectiles, and will supplement other aerial defense capacities such as the more well-known Iron Dome.

Iron Dome offers short-range protection against missiles and rockets. The David's Sling system and successive generations of Arrow missiles are Israeli-American technology built to bring down ballistic missiles.

The defense ministry announced in early December that the laser system was complete, and would be deployed by the end of the month.

During the 12-day war launched by Israel against Iran in June, the country's missile defense system failed to intercept all the projectiles fired by Tehran toward Israeli territory.

Israel has since acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths.


Trump Says Had 'Productive' Call with Putin Ahead of Zelensky Meeting

US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
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Trump Says Had 'Productive' Call with Putin Ahead of Zelensky Meeting

US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

US President Donald Trump said he had a productive telephone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday ahead of a planned meeting in Florida with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

"I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia" before the planned talks with Zelensky at Trump's Florida estate at 1:00 pm local time (1800 GMT), the US leader said on Truth Social.

Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force.

Putin's remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency TASS, followed a vast Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Zelensky to say Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace.


Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
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Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

Russia on Sunday sent three Iranian communications satellites into orbit, the second such launch since July, Iranian state television reported.

The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites to circle the Earth on a 500-kilometer (310-mile) orbit from the Vostochny launchpad in eastern Russia. The three satellites are dubbed Paya, Kowsar and Zafar-2.

The report said that Paya, weighing 150 kilograms (330 pounds), is the heaviest satellite that Iran has ever deployed into orbit. Kowsar weighs 35 kilograms (77 pounds), but the report didn't specify how heavy Zafar-2 is.

The satellites feature up to 3-meter resolution images, applicable in the management of water resources, agriculture and the environment. Their life span is up to five years.

Russia occasionally sends Iran's satellites into orbit, highlighting the strong ties between the two countries. In July, a Russian rocket sent Iranian communications satellite Nahid-2 into orbit.

Russia, which signed a “strategic partnership” treaty with Iran in January, strongly condemned the Israeli and US strikes on Iran that came during a 12-day air war in June and killed nearly 1,100 Iranians, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Retaliatory missile barrages by Iran killed 28 people in Israel.

As a long-standing project, Iran from time-to-time launches satellite carriers to send its satellites into space.

The United States has said that Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired in 2023.