Much of the information in this table is adapted from the Disasters pages at the Learning Network's infoplease online encyclopedia. Sections in red are man-made disasters.

1556

Jan. 23, Shaanxi (Shensi) province, China: most deadly earthquake in history; 830,000 killed.

1642

China: rebels destroyed Kaifeng seawall; 300,000 drowned.

1970

Nov. 13, East Pakistan: 200,000 killed by cyclone-driven tidal wave from Bay of Bengal. Over 100,000 missing.

1976

July 28, Tangshan, China: worst earthquake to hit China in 20th century; devastated 20 sq mi of city, leaving 242,000 confirmed dead.

1138

Aug. 9, Aleppo, Syria: deadly earthquake claimed lives of 230,000 people.

1927

May 22, near Xining, China: magnitude 8.3 earthquake claimed approximately 200,000 victims.

856

Dec. 22, Damghan, Iran: 200,000 were killed in one of the deadliest earthquakes on record.

893

March 23, Ardabil, Iran: earthquake killed about 150,000 people.

1923

Sept. 1, Japan: magnitude 8.3 earthquake destroyed one third of Tokyo and most of Yokohama. More than 140,000 killed.

1991

April 30, southeast Bangladesh: cyclone killed over 131,000 and left as many as 9 million homeless. Thousands of survivors died from hunger and water-borne disease.

1945

Aug 6, Aug 9, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan: Altogether, the two bombings killed an estimated 110,000 Japanese citizens and injured another 130,000. By 1950, another 230,000 Japanese had died from injuries or radiation.

1939

Dec. 27, northern Turkey: severe quakes destroyed city of Erzingan; about 100,000 casualties.

1228

Holland: 100,000 people reputedly drowned by sea flood in Friesland.

1290

Sept., Chihli, China: earthquake killed about 100,000 people.

1908

Dec. 28, Messina, Sicily: city totally destroyed by earthquake. Death toll 70,000-100,000 in Sicily and southern Italy.

1667

Nov., Shemakha, Caucasia: earthquake killed about 80,000 people.

1727

Nov. 18, Tabriz, Iran: about 77,000 victims killed in deadly earthquake.

1932

Dec. 25, Gansu, China: magnitude 7.6 earthquake rattled China, killing approximately 70,000.

1755

Nov. 1, Portugal: earthquake leveled Lisbon and was felt as far away as southern France and North Africa; 70,000 killed.

1864

Oct. 5, Calcutta, India: 70,000 killed.

1935

May 30, Pakistan: earthquake at Quetta killed 30,000-60,000.

1970

May 31, Peru: earthquake left more than 50,000 dead, 17,000 missing.

1990

June 21, northwest Iran: earthquake measuring 7.7 on Richter scale destroyed cities and villages in Caspian Sea area. At least 50,000 dead, over 60,000 injured, and 400,000 homeless.

1965

May 11-12 and June 1-2, East Pakistan: cyclones killed about 47,000.

2003

Dec. 26, Bam, Iran: An earthquake measuring 6.3 left 41,000 confirmed dead; death toll may reach 45,000.

1902

May 8, Martinique, West Indies: Mt. Pelée erupted and wiped out city of St. Pierre; 40,000 dead.

1942

Oct. 16, Bengal, India: about 40,000 lives lost.

1883

Aug. 26-28, Netherlands Indies: eruption of Krakatau; violent explosions destroyed two-thirds of island, leaving an estimated 36,000 dead. Sea waves occurred as far away as Cape Horn and possibly England.

1939

Jan. 24, Chile: earthquake razed 50,000 sq mi; about 30,000 killed.

1950

Aug. 15, India: earthquake affected 30,000 sq mi in Assam; 20,000-30,000 believed killed.

1915

Jan. 13, Avezzano, Italy: earthquake left 29,980 dead.

1896

June 15, Sanriku, Japan: earthquake and tidal wave killed 27,000.

1978

Sept. 16, Tabas, Iran: earthquake destroyed city in eastern Iran, leaving 25,000 dead.

1976

Nov. 14-16, Colombia: eruption of Nevada del Ruiz, 85 mi northwest of Bogotá. Mudslides buried most of the town of Armero and devastated Chinchiná; estimated 25,000 killed.

1985

Sept. 19-20, Mexico: earthquake registering 8.1 on Richter scale struck central and southwest regions, devastating part of Mexico City and three coastal states; estimated 25,000 killed.

1988

Dec. 7, Armenia: earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale killed nearly 25,000, injured 15,000, and left at least 400,000 homeless.

1976

Feb. 4, Guatemala: quake left over 23,000 dead.

1963

May 28-29, East Pakistan: cyclone killed about 22,000 along coast.

1780

Oct. 10-16, Barbados, West Indies: "The Great Hurricane of 1780" killed 20,000-22,000 persons and completely flattened the islands of Barbados, Martinique, and St. Eustatius; is the deadliest western hemisphere hurricane on record.

1977

Nov. 19, Andhra Pradesh, India: cyclone and tidal wave claimed lives of 20,000.

1999

Dec. 15-16, northern Venezuela: heavy rains caused catastrophic flooding and mudslides, killing an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 people. Is country's worst modern-day natural disaster.

2001

Jan. 26, Bhuj, India: magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked western Indian state of Gujarat, killing nearly 19,000 people and leaving 600,000 homeless. Total cost was estimated at $1.3 billion.

1999

Aug. 17, northwest Turkey: magnitude 7.4 quake centered near Izmit killed over 17,000 and injured about 44,000. Damage estimated at $8.5 billion.

1970

Jan. 5, Yunnan province, China: magnitude 7.7 quake killed 15,621.

1960

Agadir, Morocco: 10,000-12,000 dead as earthquake set off tidal wave and fire, destroying most of city.

1998

Oct. 26-Nov. 4, Central America (notably Honduras and Nicaragua): "Mitch" killed more than 11,000 people, becoming the deadliest Atlantic storm in 200 years. Winds reached as high as 180 mph. Two to three million people were left homeless; damages were more than $5 billion in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

1945

Jan. 30, Baltic Sea: Nazi passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff, carrying German refugees and soldiers, was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine. As many as 9,000-10,000 may have died. World's largest marine disaster.

1906

Sept. 18, Hong Kong: typhoon with tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 persons.

1965

Dec. 15, Karachi, Pakistan: cyclone killed about 10,000.

1971

Sept. 29, Orissa state, India: cyclone and tidal wave off the Bay of Bengal killed as many as 10,000.

1999

Oct. 29, Orissa state, India: supercyclone swept in from Bay of Bengal, killing at least 9,573 and leaving over 10 million homeless.

1930

Sept. 3, Santo Domingo: hurricane killed about 8,000 people.

1976

Aug. 17, Mindanao, Philippines: earthquake and tidal wave left up to 8,000 dead or missing.

1974

Sept. 14-19, Honduras: "Fifi" struck northern part of country, leaving 8,000 dead and 100,000 homeless.

1900

Sept. 8, Galveston, Tex.: an estimated 6,000-8,000 died in hurricane and tidal surge. The "Galveston Hurricane" is considered the deadliest in U.S. history.

1963

Oct. 2-7, Caribbean: "Flora" killed about 7,200 in Haiti and Cuba.

1960

Oct. 10, East Pakistan: cyclone and tidal wave killed about 6,000.

1972

Dec. 22, Managua, Nicaragua: earthquake devastated city, leaving up to 6,000 dead.

1948

Nov.: unidentified Chinese troopship evacuating Nationalist troops from Manchuria sank nr. Yingkow, killing an estimated 6,000 persons.

1944

June 29, off the coast of Japan: Japanese troop ship carrying about 6,000 troops and crew was torpedoed by American submarine USS Sturgeon. Only 400-600 survived.

1995

Jan.17, Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, Japan: 5,100 killed in earthquake and 26,800 injured; estimated damage $100 billion. Magnitude: 7.2.

2001

Sept 11, New York City, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania: some 4000 killed in simultaneous terrorist suicide attacks on New York's World Trade Center, the US Pentagon and a failed hijacking that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

1998

May 30, northern Afghanistan: magnitude 7.1 earthquake and aftershocks killed an estimated 5,000 and injured at least 1,500. A quake on Feb. 4 in same area had killed about 2,300.

1945

May 3: several days before World War II ended in Europe, the German passenger ship, Cap Arcona, carrying about 6,000, of which an estimated 5,000 were concentration camp prisoners, was sunk by British aircraft. An estimated 5,000 persons were killed.

1959

Sept. 27, Honshu, Japan: "Vera" killed an estimated 4,464.

1776

Sept. 2-Sept. 9, N.C. to Nova Scotia: called the "Hurricane of Independence," it is believed that 4,170 in the U.S. and Canada died in the storm.

1934

Sept. 21, Japan: hurricane killed more than 4,000 on Honshu.

1916

Feb. 26, Mediterranean: 3,100 people died when the French cruiser Provence was sunk by a German submarine.

1948

Dec. 3, Kiangya: Chinese passenger ship carrying refugees fleeing Communist troops sank off Shanghai; over 3,000 believed to have been killed.

1962

Jan. 10, Peru: avalanche down extinct Huascaran volcano, killed more than 3,000.

1991

Nov. 5, central Philippines: flash floods triggered by tropical storm "Thelma" killed about 3,000 people. City of Ormoc on Leyte was worst hit.

1959

Aug. 20, Fukien province, China: "Iris" killed 2,334.

1999

Sept. 21, central Taiwan: severe 7.6 earthquake and aftershocks killed 2,295 and injured 8,729.

1889

May 31, Johnstown, Pa.: more than 2,200 died in flood after South Fork Dam collapsed.

79 AD

Pompeii, Italy: Eruption of Mt.Vesuvius covered the city of Pompeii. To date archeaologists have located about 2,000 victims.

1963

Oct. 9, Italy: landslide into the Vaiont Dam; flood killed about 2,000.

1998

July 17, Papua New Guinea: spurred by undersea earthquake, three tsunamis wiped out entire villages in the northwest province of Sepik. One tidal wave reported by survivor to be 30 ft high. At least 2,000 found or presumed dead. Many who were injured by the tsunamis were later killed by deadly gangrene infections.

1984

Dec. 3, Bhopal, India: toxic gas, methyl isocyanate, seeped from Union Carbide insecticide plant, killed more than 2,000, injured about 150,000.

1990

July 16, northern Philippines: magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000.

1944

1928

Sept. 6-20, southern Fla.: 1,836 died and 1,870 injured.

1944

Oct. 24, South China Sea: the Arisan Maru carrying 1,800 American prisoners was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine and sunk. The Japanese destroyer escort rescued Japanese military and civilian personnel and left the POWs to their fate. It is estimated that only ten prisoners survived the disaster.

1954

Jan. 31-Feb. 5, northwest Europe: storm followed by floods devastated North Sea coastal areas. Netherlands was hardest hit with 1,794 dead.

1997

May 12, northeast Iran: severe earthquake measuring 7.1 on Richter scale left more than 1,500 people dead and at least 4,460 injured.

1990

July 2, Mecca, Saudi Arabia: a stampede in a 1,800 foot-long pedestrian tunnel leading from Mecca to a tent city for pilgrims killed 1,426 pilgrims who were trampled to death.

1988

Aug.-Sept., Bangladesh: heaviest monsoon in 70 years inundated three-fourths of country, killing more than 1,300 and leaving 30 million homeless. Damage estimated at over $1 billion.

1941

Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: 1,177 crewmen killed when U.S. battleship Arizona was sunk during a surprise attack on the American naval base by Japanese warplanes. The devastating air strike, which damaged or destroyed every battleship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is the worst naval catastrophe in U.S. history.

1999

Jan. 25, Armenia, Colombia: 1,124 dead and 4,000 injured in magnitude 6 earthquake. More than 200,000 left homeless.

1943

Nov. 26, Mediterranean Sea: 1,105 U.S. soldiers died when the British troopship HMT Rohna was sunk by a German air-to-surface guided missile. It is the worst U.S. troopship disaster.

1949

Dec. 5, off Korea: typhoon struck fishing fleet; several thousand men reported dead.

1949

Sept. 2, China: fire on Chongqing (Chungking) waterfront killed 1,700.

1917

Dec. 6, Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia: Belgian steamer collided with ammunition ship Mont Blanc, which was carrying over 2,500 tons of explosives. Explosion leveled part of Halifax and left about 1,600 people dead.

1960

June 9, Fukien province, China: "Mary" caused at least 1,600 deaths.

1942

April 26, Manchuria: explosion in Honkeiko Colliery killed 1,549.

1984

Sept. 2-3, Philippines: "Ike" hit seven major islands, leaving 1,300 dead.

1994

Nov. 8-21, Caribbean and southern Fla.: flooding and mudslides caused by "Gordon" led to an estimated 1,122 deaths in Haiti. There were eight deaths in Fla.; total estimated U.S. damage nearly $400 million.

1956

Aug. 7, Colombia: about 1,100 reported killed when seven army ammunition trucks exploded at Cali.

1906

March 10, France: explosion in coal mine in Courrières killed 1,060.

1893

Aug. 28, Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., Sea Islands, S.C.: at least 1,000 died.

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