20th-Century Natural Disasters

A list of the 20th Century’s most deadly natural disasters:

Estimated Deaths

- 3.7 million--flood of Yellow River in China, 1931.

- 655,000--earthquake in Tangshan, China, 1976.

- 500,000--cyclone, tidal wave in Bangladesh, 1970.

- 200,000--floods in China, 1939.

- 180,000--earthquake, landslides in Gansu, China, 1920.

- 160,000--earthquake in Messina, Sicily, 1908.

- 143,000--earthquake, fire in Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan, 1923.

- 100,000--floods in North Vietnam, 1971.

- 100,000--earthquake in Gansu, China, 1927.

- 100,000--flood in Canton, China, 1915.

- 70,000--earthquake in Gansu, China, 1932.

- 66,794--earthquake in Yungay, Peru, 1970.

- 57,000--flood of Yangtze River in China, 1949.

- 56,000--earthquake in Quetta, India, 1935.

- 50,000--tidal wave in Italy, 1908.

- 50,000--earthquake in Chile, 1939.

- 50,000--earthquake in Turkey, 1939.

- 50,000--flood of Yellow River in China, 1933.

- 40,000--volcano eruptions in Martinique, 1902.

- 40,000--cyclone in Bengal, India, 1942.

- 40,000--flood of Yangtze River in China, 1954.

- 30,000--earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, 1915.

- 30,000--flood of Yellow, Yangtze rivers in China, 1935.

- 25,000--earthquakes in northeast Iran, 1978.

- 24,047--cyclones, tidal waves in East Pakistan, 1965.

- 22,778--earthquake in Guatemala, 1976.

- 22,000--storm in Chittagong, E. Pakistan, 1963.

- 19,000--earthquake, flood in Kangra, India, 1905.

- 15,000--cold in Inner Mongolia and Suiyuan, China, 1930.

- 14,000--earthquakes in Central Asia, 1907.

- 12,200--earthquake in Guatemala, 1902.

- 12,000--earthquake in Iran, 1968.

- 10,000--floods in Hong Kong, 1902.

- 10,000--cyclone, tidal wave in Hong Kong, 1906.

- 10,000--gales, North Sea flooding in the Netherlands, 1916.

- 10,000--floods in Rajputana, India, 1943.

- 10,000--cyclone, tidal wave in East Pakistan, 1960.

- 10,000--earthquake in Iran, 1962.

- 10,000--cyclone, tidal wave in India, 1971.

- 10,000--earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua, 1972.

- 10,000--floods in India, 1979.

Source: Darkest Hours by Jay Robert Nash.