World’s deadliest earthquakes

Two recent tremors – the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004 and the 2010 Haiti quake – are among the most deadly in history, jointly claiming more than 543,000 lives


0 Location (date) 	Estimated deaths	Magnitude

1 China (1556) 
830,000 8 

2 Haiti (2010)
316,000 7

3 Turkey (115)
260,000 7.5

4 Turkey (525) 
250,000 7

5 China (1976)
242,769 7.5  

6 Azerbaijan (1139)
230,000 Unknown

7 Indian Ocean (2004)
227,898 9.1

8= China (1920) 
200,000 8.3

8= Iran (856)
200,000 7.9 

9 Armenia(893)
150,000 Unknown

10 Japan (1923) 
142,807 7.9

*Turkey’s Anatolian plate is among most seismically active regions


Cocos Plate
Pacific Plate
North American Plate
Nazca Plate
Caribbean Plate
South American Plate
Scotia Plate
Anatolian Plate* 9
Arabian Plate
African Plate
Eurasian Plate 
Indian Plate
Australian Plate
Antarctic Plate 
Philippine Plate

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8= 8= 10


Sources: Our World in Data, NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center
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