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World’s Deadliest Earthquakes since 2000: An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkey and Syria, killing more than 4,000 people in the two countries. The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers working in cold and snow look for trapped people in the rubble of toppled buildings.
List of some of the World’s Deadliest Earthquakes Since 2000
Although earthquakes have been happening since the formation of our planet, here we are restricting ourselves to 2000. Some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes since 2000 are listed in the table below
S.NO | DATE | PLACE | MAGNITUDE | CASUALTY |
1 | January 26, 2001 | Gujarat, India | 7.7 | 20,000 deaths |
2 | March 25, 2002 | Northern Afghanistan | 6.1 | 1,000 deaths |
3 | May 21, 2003 | Algeria | 6.8 | 2,200 deaths |
4 | December 26, 2003 | Southeastern Iran | 6.6 | 50,000 deaths |
5 | December 26, 2004 | Indian Ocean | 9.1 | 230,000 deaths |
6 | March 28, 2005 | Northern Sumatra | 8.6 | 1,300 deaths |
7 | May 26, 2006 | Java, Indonesia | 6.3 | 5,700 deaths |
8 | August 15, 2007 | Peru | 8.0 | 500 deaths |
9 | May 12, 2008 | Sichuan, China | 7.9 | 87,500 deaths |
10 | April 6, 2009 | L’Aquila, Italy | 6.3 | 300 deaths |
11 | September 30, 2009 | Sumatra, Indonesia | 7.5 | 1,100 deaths |
12 | January 12, 2010 | Haiti | 7.0 | 316,000 deaths |
13 | February 27, 2010 | Chile | 8.8 | 524 deaths |
14 | March 11, 2011 | Japan | 9.0 | 20,000 deaths |
15 | September 24, 2013 | Pakistan | 7.7 | 800 deaths |
16 | August 3, 2014 | Wenping, China | 6.2 | 700 deaths |
17 | April 25, 2015 | Nepal | 7.8 | 8,800 deaths |
18 | August 24, 2016 | Italy | 6.2 | 300 deaths |
19 | September 28, 2018 | Indonesia | 7.5 | 4,300 deaths |
20 | August 14, 2021 | Haiti | 7.2 | 2,200 deaths |
21 | June 22, 2022 | Afghanistan | 6.1 | 1,100 deaths |
World’s Deadliest Earthquakes Since 2000: Is every earthquake deadly?
While reading the above list you may feel that all earthquakes are deadly, but that’s not true. It isn’t that simple. There is not one magnitude above which damage will occur. It depends on other variables, such as the distance from the earthquake, what type of soil you are on, building construction, etc. That being said, damage does not usually occur until the earthquake magnitude reaches somewhere above 4 or 5.
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