In addition to thousands of deaths and unprecedented sorrow, the world’s major earthquakes in the last 50 years also created nearly $1 trillion in economic damage, according to Anadolu Agency (AA) data.
The magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan’s Tohoku on March 11, 2011, claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 people and caused 70 million cubic meters of rubble, data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows.
The Tohoku earthquake also created the most extensive property loss at $360 billion. It is also the most expensive in world history regarding insured losses, which stood at $47 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).
The Great Hanshin disaster, a 6.9 magnitude quake in Japan in 1995, led to a death toll of over 6,400 with $200 billion in economic damage.
The 8 magnitude Sichuan earthquake in 2008 in southern China, which caused the deaths of more than 87,000 people, resulted in an estimated damage of $150 billion.
The U.S. experienced one of its most costly earthquakes, Northridge, on Jan. 17, 1994, when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook Los Angeles, California. The economic damage was calculated as $50 billion.
It was the second-largest earthquake in world history in terms of insured losses at $31 billion, according to I.I.I.
New Zealand’s 6.3 magnitude Christchurch earthquake in 2011, leading to the deaths of 185 people, resulted in property losses of $40 billion, with $14 billion of the damage covered by insurance.
Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 27, 2010, one of the strongest earthquakes, was followed by a tsunami. The quake claimed the lives of more than 500 people and caused $30 billion worth of damage.
According to Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, a leading global risk and reinsurance specialist, $8.2 billion of this damage was covered by insurance, and the earthquake claimed a spot among the costliest for the insurance sector.
The 2004 Chuetsu earthquake in Japan’s Niigata prefecture, with a magnitude of 6.6, killed 40 people and injured around 3,000 as it caused an economic loss of $28 billion.
One of the world’s largest earthquakes, Sumatra, Indonesia, was shaken by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004.
Around 230,000 people were killed, and 1.7 million were displaced by the quake and the tsunami in 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake created $10 billion in economic damage and 12 million cubic meters of rubble.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, while its total property loss was $8.5 billion, and it led to 10 million cubic meters of rubble.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal in 2015 killed around 8,964 people, injured 21,952 and caused about $10 billion in economic damage. In addition, the country had to contend with 27 million cubic meters of rubble and is still in recovery efforts.
The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes jolted southeastern Türkiye in what is described as the worst disaster in its modern history.
The disaster killed more than 45,000 people, and nearly 204,000 buildings collapsed or were severely damaged in 11 provinces, leaving thousands homeless.
World Bank estimates that the quakes and aftershocks caused about $34 billion in direct physical damage, but total reconstruction and recovery costs could be twice as high.
Officials say nearly 14 million people were affected by the quake, which also severely hit neighboring Syria, and millions have either left or have been evacuated from the quake-stricken region.
According to the UNDP, the twin quakes produced 100 million cubic meters of rubble.
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake that hit Türkiye on Aug. 17, 1999, killed around 17,480 people and led to economic damage of $17.1 billion, according to the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED).
