Posted on 06/11/2008 12:24:16 PM PDT by decimon
A look at some of the deadliest natural disasters around the world in the past 40 years:
— May 12, 2008: Earthquake (magnitude 7.9) hits Sichuan province in central China. More than 69,000 people are killed and over 17,000 remain missing.
— May 2-3, 2008: Cyclone Nargis strikes Myanmar, killing at least 78,000 and leaving 56,000 others missing.
— October 2005: Northern Pakistan earthquake (magnitude 7.6) kills about 78,000 people.
— August 2005: U.S. Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina kills at least 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.
— December 2004: Indian Ocean tsunami (triggered by magnitude 9.0 earthquake) kills 230,000 in a dozen countries.
— December 2003: Southeastern Iran earthquake (magnitude 6.5) kills 26,000.
— August 1999: Western Turkey earthquake (magnitude 7.4) kills 17,000.
— October 1998: Central America Hurricane Mitch kills 9,000.
— April 1991: Bangladesh cyclone kills 140,000.
— June 1990: Northwestern Iran earthquake (magnitude 7.7) kills 50,000.
— July 1976: Northeastern China earthquake (magnitude 8.2) kills 240,000, with some estimates at 655,000.
— November 1970: Bangladesh cyclone kills 300,000. World's deadliest cyclone on record.
Nasty, brutish and short ping.
Good list.
It would be a better list if you take it back through 1908.
Hint: Western Civilization has something to do with it. Freedom has something to do with it.
I'm not sure we had any idea of how many people died in natural disasters in 1908.
Anything but natural. Unless, that is, you count human nature.
I was just thinking that 100 years was a nice round number but it would take a lot of research.
Missing from the list: The Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 100,000 (?) at the end of 2006.
Wouldn’t the sum total of all those disasters just amount to a good day for Communism?
I assume the inclusion of Hurricane Katrina is pure p.c., since it’s not even in the range of the others in terms of “deadly.”
Global Climate Change...
They have that as 2004 with 230,000 dead.
Especially the earthquakes. Too much heat and things just crack.
How in the world did Katrina make that list? I bet there are a lot of unlisted natural disasters in this time frame that had higher death tolls than Katrina. An average French heat wave kills more.
Some group (in the UN?...UNESCO?) once did a survey of which countries had the most potential for natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, blizzards...). Turned out that the U.S. was at the top of the list.
I think that the fact that things like Katrina caused so few deaths says volumes about the capabilities of this country and the resilience of its people compared to other countries.
That's a good one. I don't know how many Europeans died in that one of a few years ago.
Absolutely. And major earthquakes here kill dozens, and so on. The prosperity and technological prowess of the U.S. keeps us from dying in droves like so many others.
Upwards of 30,000, wasn't it?
I knew that historically there had been a few events that were larger than any of these.
I thought the biggest was a killer quake in China in the 1600’s. Close, but not quite.
Most lethal quake of all time happened Jan 23, 1556 in Shensi, China.
More than 800,000 deaths and of course we will never know the true number.
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