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List of natural disasters by death toll

Global multihazard mortality risks and distribution (2005).

A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, major collateral damage or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricanes etc. To be classified as a disaster, it will have profound environmental effect and/or human loss and frequently causes financial loss.

Ten deadliest natural disasters excluding epidemics and famines[edit]

Notes: The list does not include several volcanic eruptions with uncertain death tolls resulting from collateral effects (crop failures, etc.), though these may have numbered in the millions; see List of volcanic eruptions by death toll.
This list takes into account only the highest estimated death toll for each disaster, and lists them accordingly
This list does not include epidemics and famines.
This list names event considered as a single event within one year.
The list does not include the man-made 1938 Yellow River flood, caused entirely by a deliberate man-made act (an act of war, destroying dikes).
An alternative listing is given by Peter Hough in his 2008 book Global Security.^[1]

Rank	Death toll (Highest estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	4,000,000^[2]^{[nb 1]}	1931 China floods	China	July 1931
2.	2,000,000^[3]^[4]^[5]	1887 Yellow River flood		September 1887
3.	830,000^[6]	1556 Shaanxi earthquake		January 23, 1556
4.	655,000	1976 Tangshan earthquake		July 28, 1976
5.	≥500,000^[2]	1970 Bhola cyclone	East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)	November 13, 1970
6.	316,000^[7]	2010 Haiti earthquake	Haiti	January 12, 2010
7.	≥300,000^[8]	526 Antioch earthquake	Byzantine Empire (now Turkey)	May 526
8.	300,000^[9]	1881 Haiphong typhoon	Vietnam	October 8, 1881
9.	273,400^[10]	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	China	December 16, 1920
10.	229,000	Typhoon Nina	China	August 7, 1975

Ten deadliest natural disasters since 1900 excluding epidemics and famines[edit]

Note: This list does not include industrial or technological accidents, epidemics, famines or the 1938 Yellow River flood.

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event*	Location	Date
1.	400,000–4,000,000	1931 China floods	China	July 1931
2.	≥500,000^[2]	1970 Bhola cyclone	East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)	November 1970
3.	100,000−316,000^[11]	2010 Haiti earthquake	Haiti	January 12, 2010
4.	273,400	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	China	December 16, 1920
5.	242,769–655,000	1976 Tangshan earthquake		July 28, 1976
6.	229,000	Typhoon Nina—also contributed to Banqiao Dam failure		August 7, 1975
7.	227,898	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	Indian Ocean	December 26, 2004
8.	145,000	1935 Yangtze flood	China	1935
9.	143,000	1923 Great Kantō earthquake	Japan	September 1, 1923
10.	138,866	1991 Bangladesh cyclone	Bangladesh	April 29, 1991

Deadliest natural disasters by year excluding epidemics and famines[edit]

20th century hide
Year	Death toll	Event	Location	Type	Date
1949	40,000	1949 Eastern Guatemalan Floods	Guatemala	Flood	September 28–October 14
1950	2,910	1950 Pakistan flood	Pakistan
1951	4,800	1951 Manchuria flood	China		September 18
1952	2,336	1952 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake	Russia	Earthquake	November 4
1953	2,566	1953 Japan floods	Japan	Flood	July
1954	33,000	1954 Yangtze floods	China	Flood	June–September
1955	1,023+	Hurricane Janet	Lesser Antilles, Mexico	Tropical cyclone	September 22–30
1956	4,935	Typhoon Wanda (1956)	China	Tropical cyclone	August 1
1957	1,200	1957 Hamadan Province earthquake	Iran	Earthquake	December 13
1958	1,269	Typhoon Ida (1958)	Japan	Tropical cyclone	September 26
1959	>5,000	Typhoon Vera	Japan		September 26
1960	14,174	Severe Cyclonic Storm Ten	East Pakistan		October 31
1961	11,468	Cyclone Winnie	East Pakistan		May 6–9
1962	12,225	1962 Buin Zahra earthquake	Iran	Earthquake	September 1
1963	22,000	May 1963 East Pakistan II cyclone	East Pakistan	Tropical cyclone	May 28
1964	7,000	Tropical Storm Joan (1964)	Vietnam		November 4–11
1965	47,000	1965 Bengal cyclones	East Pakistan		May 11–12 and June 1–2
1966	2,394–3,000	1966 Varto earthquake	Turkey	Earthquake	August 19
1967	10,000	1967 Paradip cyclone	India	Tropical cyclone	October 26–30
1968	15,000	1968 Dasht-e Bayaz and Ferdows earthquakes	Iran	Earthquake	August 31
1969	3,000	1969 Yangjiang earthquake	China	Earthquake	July 26
1970	500,000+	1970 Bhola cyclone	India, East Pakistan	Tropical cyclone	November 3
1971	100,000	Hanoi and Red River Delta flood	North Vietnam	Flood	August 1
1972	5,374	1972 Qir earthquake	Iran	Earthquake	April 10
1973	1,653	1973 Flores cyclone	Indonesia	Tropical cyclone	April 26–30
1974	8,210+	Hurricane Fifi–Orlene	Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico		September 18–20
1975	229,000	Typhoon Nina (1975)	China		August 7
1976	242,769–655,000	1976 Tangshan earthquake	China	Earthquake	July 28
1977	10,000–50,000	1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone	India	Tropical cyclone	November 19
1978	15,000–25,000	1978 Tabas earthquake	Iran	Earthquake	September 16
1979	2,069	Hurricane David	Dominican Republic, Dominica	Tropical cyclone	August 15–September 8
1980	5,000	1980 El Asnam earthquake	Algeria	Earthquake	October 10
1981	3,000	1981 Golbaf earthquake	Iran		June 11
1982	2,800	1982 North Yemen earthquake	Yemen		December 13
1983	1,342	1983 Erzurum earthquake	Turkey		October 30
1984	1,474	Typhoon Ike	Philippines	Tropical cyclone	August 26–September 6
1985	23,000	Armero tragedy	Colombia	Volcanic eruption	November 14
1986	1,746	Lake Nyos disaster	Cameroon	Limnic eruption	August 21
1987	5,000	1987 Ecuador earthquakes	Ecuador	Earthquake	March 6
1988	25,000	1988 Armenian earthquake	Armenia	Earthquake	December 7
1989	3,814	1989 Sichuan flood	China	Flood	July 27
1990	50,000	1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake	Iran	Earthquake	June 21
1991	138,866	1991 Bangladesh cyclone	Bangladesh	Tropical cyclone	April 24–30
1992	2,500	1992 Flores earthquake and tsunami	Indonesia	Earthquake, Tsunami	December 12
1993	9,748	1993 Latur earthquake	India	Earthquake	September 9
1994	1,100	1994 Paez river earthquake	Colombia		June 6
1995	6,434	Great Hanshin earthquake	Japan		January 17
1996	1,077	1996 Andhra Pradesh cyclone	India	Tropical cyclone	November 4–7
1997	3,123	Tropical Storm Linda (1997)	Vietnam, Thailand	Tropical cyclone, Flood	November 1–9
1998	11,374	Hurricane Mitch	Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico	Tropical cyclone	October 22–November 9
1999	17,127	1999 Izmit earthquake	Turkey	Earthquake	August 17
2000	800	2000 Mozambique flood	Mozambique	Flood	February–March

21st century hide
Year	Death toll	Event	Location	Type	Date
2001	20,085	2001 Gujarat earthquake	India	Earthquake	January 26
2002	1,030	2002 Indian heat wave	India	Heat Wave	May
2003	70,000	2003 European heat wave	France, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Luxemburg, Ireland	Heat Wave	July–August
2004	227,898	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Somalia	Earthquake, Tsunami	December 26
2005	87,351	2005 Kashmir earthquake	India, Pakistan	Earthquake	October 8
2006	5,782	2006 Yogyakarta earthquake	Indonesia	Earthquake	May 26
2007	15,000	Cyclone Sidr	Bangladesh, India	Tropical cyclone	November 11–16
2008	138,373	Cyclone Nargis	Myanmar	Tropical cyclone	April 27 – 3 May
2009	1,115	2009 Sumatra earthquake	Indonesia	Earthquake	September 30
2010	100,000-316,000	2010 Haiti earthquake	Haiti	Earthquake	January 12
2011	15,897	2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami	Japan	Earthquake, Tsunami	March 11
2012	1,901	Typhoon Bopha	Philippines	Tropical cyclone	December 4–5
2013	6,340	Typhoon Haiyan	Philippines, Vietnam, China	Tropical cyclone	November 3–4
2014	2,665^[12]	2014 Afghanistan floods	Afghanistan	Flood	April 24–May 15
2015	8,964	2015 Nepal earthquake	Nepal, India	Earthquake	April 25
2016	676	2016 Ecuador earthquake	Ecuador	Earthquake	April 16
2017	3,059	Hurricane Maria	Puerto Rico, Dominica	Tropical cyclone	September 19–21
2018	4,340	2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami	Indonesia	Earthquake, Tsunami	September 28
2019	1,303	Cyclone Idai	Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi	Tropical cyclone	March 4–7
2020	453	2020 East Africa floods	Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti	Flood	April–May

Lists of natural disasters by cause[edit]

Deadliest earthquakes[edit]

Main article: List of earthquakes

Note that the 893 Ardabil earthquake is a 'phantom', considered a mis-recording of the 893 Dvin earthquake.^[13]

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	830,000	1556 Shaanxi earthquake	Ming dynasty (now China)	January 23, 1556
2.	100,000−316,000	2010 Haiti earthquake	Haiti	January 12, 2010
3.	242,769–655,000^[14]	1976 Tangshan earthquake	China	July 28, 1976
4.	273,400^[10]	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	Ningxia, Republic of China (now China)	December 16, 1920
5.	250,000–300,000^[8]	526 Antioch earthquake	Byzantine Empire (now Turkey)	May 526
6.	260,000^[15]	115 Antioch earthquake	Roman Empire (now Turkey)	December 13, 115
7.	230,000	1138 Aleppo earthquake	Zengid dynasty (now Syria)	October 11, 1138
8.	227,898	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake	Indonesia	December 26, 2004
9.	200,000	1303 Hongdong earthquake^[16]	Mongol Empire (now China)	September 17, 1303
		856 Damghan earthquake	Abbasid Caliphate (now Iran)	December 22, 856
		1780 Tabriz earthquake^[17]	Iran	January 8, 1780
12.	150,000	893 Ardabil earthquake	Abbasid Caliphate (now Iran)	March 23, 893
13.	142,807^[18]^[19]	1923 Great Kantō earthquake	Japan	September 1, 1923
14.	130,000^[20]	533 Aleppo earthquake	Byzantine Empire (now Syria)	November 29, 533
15.	123,000^[2]	1908 Messina earthquake	Italy	December 28, 1908
16.	110,000	1948 Ashgabat earthquake	Turkmen SSR, Soviet Union (now Turkmenistan)	October 5, 1948
17.	100,000	1290 Chihli earthquake	Mongol Empire (now China)	September 27, 1290
18.	87,587^[21]^[22]	2008 Sichuan earthquake	China	May 12, 2008
19.	87,351	2005 Kashmir earthquake^{[citation needed]}	Pakistan (Azad Kashmir)	October 8, 2005
20.	80,000	1721 Tabriz earthquake^[23]	Iran	April 26, 1721
		458 Antioch earthquake^[24]	Byzantine Empire (now Turkey)	September 458
		1667 Shamakhi earthquake	Safavid dynasty (now Azerbaijan)	November 1667
		1854 Great Nankaidō earthquake	Japan	November 1854
		1169 Aleppo earthquake^[25]^[26]	Zengid dynasty (now Syria)	1169
25.	77,000	1727 Tabriz earthquake	Iran	November 18, 1727
26.	73,000^[27]	1718 Gansu earthquake	Qing Empire (now China)	June 19, 1718
27.	70,000	1970 Ancash earthquake^[28]	Peru	May 31, 1970
		1033 Ramala earthquake^[29]	Fatimid Caliphate (now West Bank)	December 10, 1033
		847 Damascus earthquake^[30]	Abbasid Caliphate (now Syria)	847
		1868 Ecuador earthquakes^[31]	Ecuador	August 15, 1868 – August 16, 1868
31.	60,000	587 Antioch earthquake^[32]	Byzantine Empire (now Turkey)	September 30, 587
		1101 Khorasan earthquake^[33]	Great Seljuq Empire (now Iran)	1101
		1268 Cilicia earthquake	Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (now Turkey)	1268
		1693 Sicily earthquake	Kingdom of Sicily (now Italy)	January 11, 1693
		1935 Quetta earthquake	British India (now part of Pakistan)	May 31, 1935
36.	50,000	844 Damascus earthquake^[34]	Abbasid Caliphate (now Syria)	September 18, 844
		1042 Tabriz earthquake^[35]	Abbasid Caliphate (now Iran)	November 4, 1042
		1783 Calabrian earthquakes	Kingdom of Naples (now Italy)	1783
		1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake	Iran	June 21, 1990
40.	40,000–50,000^[36]	1755 Lisbon earthquake	Portugal	November 1, 1755
41.	45,000	850 Iran earthquake^[37]	Abbasid Caliphate (now Iran)	July 15, 850
		856 Corinth earthquake^[38]	Byzantine Empire (now Greece)	November 856
		856 Tunisia earthquake^[39]^[40]	Abbasid Caliphate (now Tunisia)	December 3, 856
44.	42,571^[41]	1668 Shandong earthquake	Qing Empire (now China)	July 25, 1668
45.	40,900	1927 Gulang earthquake	Gansu, China	May 22, 1927
46.	40,000	342 Antioch earthquake^[42]	Roman Empire (now Turkey)	342
		662 Damghan earthquake^[43]	Umayyad Caliphate (now Iran)	April 26, 662
		1455 Naples earthquake^[44]	Crown of Aragon (now Italy)	December 5, 1455
		1754 Cairo earthquake^[45]	Ottoman Empire (now Egypt)	September 2, 1754
		1755 Tabriz earthquake^[46]	Iran	June 7, 1755
		1797 Riobamba earthquake	Spanish Empire (now Ecuador)	February 4, 1797

Deadliest famines[edit]

Main articles: List of famines and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll § Anthropogenically exacerbated famine, mass starvation, and illness or disease

Note: Some of these famines may have been caused or partially caused by humans.

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	15,000,000–43,000,000	Great Chinese Famine	China	1958–1961
2.	25,000,000^[47]	Chinese Famine of 1907		1907
3.	9,000,000–13,000,000^[48]	Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879		1876–1879
4.	11,000,000	Chalisa famine	India	1783–1784
4.	11,000,000	Doji bara famine or Skull famine	India	1789–1793
6.	10,000,000	Bengal famine of 1770, incl. Bihar & Orissa	British India	1769–1773
7.	7,500,000	Great European Famine	Europe (all)	1315–1317
8.	7,400,000	Deccan famine of 1630–32	Mughal Empire now india	1630–1632
9.	5,000,000–8,000,000	Soviet famine of 1932–1933 (Holodomor in Ukraine)	Soviet Union	1932–1933
10.	5,500,000	Indian Great Famine of 1876–78	British India	1876–1878
11.	5,000,000	Chinese Famine of 1936	China	1936
11.	5,000,000	Russian famine of 1921	Russia, Ukraine	1921–1922
13.	3,000,000	Chinese famine of 1928–1930	China	1928–1930
14.	2,000,000–3,000,000	Chinese famine of 1942–43	China	1942–1943
15.	2,400,000	Japanese famine	Japanese Java	1944–1945
16.	2,000,000	Russian famine of 1601–1603	Russia (Muscovy)	1601–1603
		Deccan famine of 1702–1704	India	1702–1704
		Upper Doab famine of 1860–61	British India	1860–1861
		Indian Famine	British India	1896–1902
		Persian famine of 1917–1919	Persia	1917–1918
		Famine during the Biafran War	Nigeria	1967–1970
22.	1,500,000–3,000,000	Bengal famine of 1943	British India	1943–1944
23.	1,500,000	Rajputana famine of 1869	British India	1868–1870
23.	1,500,000	Persian famine of 1870–1872	Persia	1870–1872
25.	1,300,000–1,500,000	French Famine	France	1693–1694
26.	1,000,000–1,500,000	Great Irish Famine	Ireland	1846–1849
26.	1,000,000–1,500,000	Soviet famine of 1946–47	Soviet Union	1946–1947
28.	1,000,000	Orissa famine of 1866	British India	1866

Deadliest impact events[edit]

Main articles: Impact event, Meteorite fall, Meteor shower, and List of meteor air bursts

Note: Although there have been no scientifically verified cases of astronomical objects resulting in human fatalities, there have been several reported occurrences throughout human history. Consequently, the casualty figures for all events listed are considered unofficial.

Rank	Death toll (unofficial)	Location	Date	Notes
1.	10,000+	Qingyang, Gansu, China	1490	1490 Ch'ing-yang event
2.	"Tens"	Changshou District, Chongqing, China	1639	10 homes destroyed^[49]^[50]
3.	10+	China	616 CE	a large meteorite fell onto the rebel Lu Ming-Yueh's camp, destroying a wall-attacking tower^[50]^[51]
4.	2	Malacca ship, Indian Ocean	1648	2 sailors killed on board a ship^[50]
4.	2	Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Siberia, Russian Empire	1908	Tunguska event^[49]
6.	1	Cremona, Lombardy, Italy	1511	a monk and several animals were killed by stones weighing up to 50 kg^[50]
		Milan, Lombardy, Italy	1633 or 1664	a monk died after being struck on the thigh by a meteorite^[50]
		Gascony, France	1790	a farmer was reportedly struck and killed by a meteorite^[50]
		Oriang, Malwate, India	1825	^[49]^[52]
		Chin-kuei Shan, China	1874	a cottage was crushed by a meteorite, killing a child^[49]^[53]
		Newtown, Indiana, United States *	1879	a man was killed in bed by a meteorite^[49] *later revealed to be a hoax^[54]
		Dun-le-Poëlier, France	1879	a farmer was killed by a meteorite^[49]
		Zvezvan, Yugoslavia	1929	a meteorite hit a bridal party^[49]

Deadliest limnic eruptions[edit]

Main article: Limnic eruption

Note: Only 2 cases in recorded history.

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	1,744	Lake Nyos disaster	Cameroon	August 21, 1986
2.	37	Lake Monoun disaster	Cameroon	August 15, 1984

Deadliest wildfires/bushfires[edit]

Main article: List of wildfires

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	1,200–2,500	Peshtigo Fire	Wisconsin, United States	October 8, 1871
2.	1,200	Kursha-2 Fire	Soviet Union	August 3, 1936
3.	453	Cloquet Fire^[55]	Minnesota, United States	October 12, 1918
4.	418+	Great Hinckley Fire	Minnesota, United States	September 1, 1894
5.	282	Thumb Fire	Michigan, United States	September 5, 1881
6.	240	1997 Indonesian forest fires^[56]^[57]	Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia	September 1997
7.	223	Matheson Fire	Ontario, Canada	July 29, 1916
8.	191	Black Dragon Fire^[56]^[57]	China and Soviet Union	May 1, 1987
9.	173	Black Saturday bushfires^[56]^[57]	Australia	February 7, 2009
10.	160–300	Miramichi Fire	Canada	October 7, 1825
11.	102	2018 Attica wildfires	Greece	July 23, 2018
12.	87	Great Fire of 1910	Montana and Idaho, United States	August 20, 1910
13.	85	Camp Fire^[58]	California, United States	November 8, 2018
14.	84	2007 Greek forest fires^[56]	Greece	June 28, 2007
15.	82	1949 Landes forest fire	France	August 19, 1949
16.	75	Ash Wednesday bushfires^[56]	Australia	February 16, 1983
17.	73–200	Great Porcupine Fire	Canada	July 11, 1911
18.	71	Black Friday bushfires	Australia	January 13, 1939
19.	66	2017 Portugal wildfires	Portugal	June 17, 2017
20.	65+	Yacolt Burn^[59]^[60]	Washington and Oregon, United States	September 8, 1902
21.	62	1967 Tasmanian fires	Australia	February 7, 1967
22.	60	1926 Victorian bushfires	Australia	January 26, 1926
23.	57	1991 Indonesian forest fires^[56]	Indonesia	August 1991
24.	56	1992 Nepal wildfires^[56]	Nepal	March 1992
25.	54	2010 Russian wildfires^[56]	Russia	July 29, 2010
26.	34 (Direct)^[61]^[62] 417 (Smoke Inhalation)^[63]	Black Summer (2019-20)	Australia	June, 2019

Ten deadliest avalanches/landslides[edit]

Main articles: List of avalanches by death toll and List of landslides

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	100,000	1786 Dadu River landslide dam; triggered by the 1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake^[64]	China	1786
1.	100,000	1920 Haiyuan landslides; triggered by the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake^[64]	China	1920
3.	22,000	1970 Huascarán avalanche; triggered by the 1970 Ancash earthquake^[65]	Peru	1970
4.	10,000–30,000	Vargas tragedy^[66]	Venezuela	1999
4.	10,000	White Friday avalanches^[67]^[68]	Italy	1916
6.	5,000–28,000	Khait landslide^[69]^[70]	Tajikistan	1949
7.	4,000–6,000	1941 Huaraz avalanche^[71]	Peru	1941
7.	4,000	1962 Huascarán avalanche^[65]	Peru	1962
9.	3,466	1310 Western Hubei landslide^[64]	China	1310
10.	3,429	1933 Diexi landslides^[64]	China	1933

Ten deadliest blizzards[edit]

Main article: List of blizzards

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	4,000	1972 Iran blizzard	Iran	1972
2.	3,000	Carolean Death March	Norway	1719
3.	926	2008 Afghanistan blizzard	Afghanistan	2008
4.	400	Great Blizzard of 1888	United States	1888
5.	353	Great Appalachian Storm of 1950		1950
6.	318	1993 Storm of the Century		1993
7.	286	December 1960 nor'easter		1960
8.	250	Great Lakes Storm of 1913	United States and Canada (Great Lakes region)	1913
9.	235	Schoolhouse Blizzard	United States	1888
10.	201	North American blizzard of 1966	United States	1966

Ten deadliest floods[edit]

Main articles: List of floods; List of deadliest floods; and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll § Anthropogenic floods, drownings and landslides

Note: Some of these floods and landslides may be partially caused by humans – for example, by failure of dams, levees, seawalls or retaining walls.
This list does not include the man-made 1938 Yellow River flood caused entirely by a deliberate man-made act (an act of war, destroying dikes).

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	400,000–4,000,000^[72]	1931 China floods	China	1931
2.	900,000–2,000,000	1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood		1887
3.	230,000^[73]	1975 Banqiao Dam failure		1975
4.	145,000	1935 Yangtze river flood		1935
5.	>100,000	St. Felix's Flood, storm surge	Holy Roman Empire	1530
6.	100,000	Hanoi and Red River Delta flood	North Vietnam	1971
7.	up to 100,000^{[citation needed]}	1911 Yangtze River flood	China	1911
8.	50,000–80,000	St. Lucia's flood, storm surge	Holy Roman Empire	1287
9.	60,000	North Sea flood, storm surge		1212
10.	36,000	St. Marcellus flood, storm surge		1219

Ten deadliest heat waves[edit]

Main article: List of heat waves

Note: Measuring the number of deaths caused by a heat wave requires complicated statistical analysis, since heat waves tend to cause large numbers of deaths among people weakened by other conditions. As a result, the number of deaths is only known with any accuracy for heat waves in the modern era in countries with developed healthcare systems.

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	70,000	2003 European heat wave	Europe	2003
2.	56,000	2010 Russian heat wave	Russia	2010
3.	9,500	1901 eastern United States heat wave	United States	1901
4.	5,000–10,000	1988 United States heat wave	United States	1988
5.	3,418	2006 European heat wave	Europe	2006^[74]
6.	2,541	1998 India heat wave	India	1998^[74]
7.	2,500	2015 Indian heat wave	India	2015
8.	2,000	2015 Pakistan heat wave	Pakistan	2015
9.	1,700–5,000	1980 United States heat wave	United States	1980
10.	1,718^[75]	2010 Japanese heat wave	Japan	2010

Ten deadliest pandemics / epidemics[edit]

Main article: List of epidemics

Death counts are historical totals unless indicated otherwise.

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	1×10⁹	Tuberculosis	Worldwide	1800 – present (as of 2018).^[76] There were about 1 billion worldwide deaths from TB in the 19th and 20th centuries.^[77]^[78]^[79] At the turn of the 19th Century there were 7 million worldwide annual deaths from TB.^[80] Projected to the whole century, this would mean ca. 700 million tuberculosis deaths in the 19th Century, leaving 300 million deaths for the 20th Century. There were 5,000,000 worldwide deaths from TB per year in, respectively, 1939^[81] and 1954.^[82] Death toll declined after the discovery of the BCG vaccine. In 2018 there were 1.5 million deaths from TB.^[83]
2.	300,000,000 approx.	Smallpox		1900 to eradication.^[84] Declared eradicated May 8, 1980.^[85] 300 million smallpox deaths between 1900 and eradication would mean that, out of 4,713,503,215 worldwide deaths between 1900 and 1995,^[86] 6.36% were from smallpox.
3.	200,000,000	Measles		last 150 years (as of 2010)^[76]
4.	100,000,000 approx.	Second plague pandemic including Black Death (1331-1353)		1331–1820
5.	80,000,000–250,000,000	Malaria		20th century – present. (as of 2014) The World Health Report 1999 (WHO) states that "during the first half of the 20th century, the world sustained around 2 million deaths from malaria each year," so for that period alone, there were a hundred million deaths. After that, mortality was halved by better treatment and eradication efforts, so approximately another 64 million deaths were due to Malaria.^[87]
6.	50,000,000–100,000,000	Spanish flu		1918–1920
7.	40,000,000–100,000,000	Plague of Justinian	Asia, Europe, Africa	540–590
8.	30,000,000^[88]	AIDS pandemic	Worldwide	1960–present (as of 2012)
9.	12,000,000	Third Pandemic of Bubonic Plague	Worldwide	1855–1960
10.	5,000,000	Antonine Plague	Roman Empire	165–180

Ten deadliest tornadoes[edit]

Main article: List of tornadoes causing 100 or more deaths

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	1,300	The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado	Manikganj, Bangladesh	1989
2.	695	The Tri-State tornado	United States (Missouri–Illinois–Indiana)	1925
3.	681	1973 Dhaka tornado	Bangladesh	1973
4.	660	1969 East Pakistan tornado	East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)	1969
5.	600	The Valletta, Malta tornado	Malta	1551 or 1556
6.	500	The Sicily Tornadoes	Sicily, Two Sicilies (now Italy)	1851
		The Narail-Magura tornado	Jessore, East Pakistan, Pakistan (now Bangladesh)	1964
		The Madaripur-Shibchar tornado	Bangladesh	1977
9.	400	The Ivanovo-Yaroslavl tornado	Soviet Union (now Russia)	1984
10.	317	The Great Natchez tornado	United States (Mississippi–Louisiana)	1840

Ten deadliest tropical cyclones[edit]

Note: Earlier versions of this list have included the so-called 'Bombay Cyclone of 1882' in tenth position, but this supposed event has been proven to be a hoax.

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	≥500,000	1970 Bhola cyclone	East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)	November 13, 1970
2.	300,000	1737 Calcutta cyclone^[89]	India	October 7, 1737
2.	300,000	1839 India Cyclone^[90]	India	November 25, 1839
4.	229,000	Super Typhoon Nina—contributed to Banqiao Dam failure	China	August 7, 1975
5.	200,000^[91]	Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876	British Raj (now Bangladesh)	October 30, 1876
6.	150,000 (30,000 to 300,000)^[92]	1881 Haiphong Typhoon	Vietnam	October 8, 1881
7.	138,866	1991 Bangladesh cyclone	Bangladesh	April 29, 1991
8.	138,373	Cyclone Nargis	Myanmar	May 2, 2008
9.	100,000	July 1780 typhoon^[93]	Philippines	1780
10.	10,000–50,000	1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone	India	November 14, 1977

Ten deadliest tsunamis[edit]

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	227,898	2004 Indian Ocean tsunami	Indian Ocean	December 26, 2004
2.	123,000^[2]	1908 Messina earthquake	Italy	December 28, 1908
3.	36,417–120,000	1883 eruption of Krakatoa	Indonesia	August 26, 1883
4.	40,000–50,000^[36]	1755 Lisbon earthquake	Portugal	November 1, 1755
5.	30,000-100,000 (est.)	Minoan Eruption	Greece	2nd Millennium BC
6.	31,000	1498 Meiō Nankaidō earthquake	Japan	September 20, 1498
7.	30,000	1707 Hōei earthquake	October 28, 1707
8.	27,122^[95]	1896 Sanriku earthquake	June 15, 1896
9.	25,674	1868 Arica earthquake	Chile	August 13, 1868
10.	5,700^[96]–50,000^[97]	365 Crete earthquake	Greece	July 21, 365

Ten deadliest volcanic eruptions[edit]

Main article: List of volcanic eruptions by death toll

Rank	Death toll	Event	Location	Date
1.	71,000+^[98]	1815 eruption of Mount Tambora (see also Year Without a Summer)	Indonesia	April 10, 1815
2.	36,000+^[99]	1883 eruption of Krakatoa	Indonesia	August 26, 1883
3.	30,000^[100]	1902 eruption of Mount Pelée	Martinique	May 7, 1902
4.	23,000^[101]	Armero tragedy	Colombia	November 13, 1985
5.	15,000^[102]	1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami	Japan	May 21, 1792
6.	10,000	Mount Kelud	Indonesia	1586
7.	6,000^[103]	Santa Maria	Guatemala	October 24, 1902
8.	5,000^[104]	Mount Kelud	Indonesia	May 19, 1919
9.	4,011^[105]	Mount Galunggung	Indonesia	1822
10.	3,000^[106]	Vesuvius	Italy	1631

Notes

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Disasters in the World