Summary of the Most Fatal Earthquake Events (Table)

Rank	EQ Date	Mag.	Name	Preferred Toll	Approx. Shaking
1	16/12/1920	Mw8.3	Haiyuan	273400	0.5
2	27/07/1976	Mw7.6	Tangshan	242419	1
3	26/12/2004	Mw9	Indian Ocean Tsunami	228194	0.005
4	01/09/1923	Mw7.9	Great Kanto	105385	0.105
5	05/10/1948	Mw7.2	Ashgabat	100000	1
6	12/05/2008	Mw7.9	Sichuan	88287	0.7
7	28/12/1908	Mw7.24	Messina	85926	0.97
8	08/10/2005	Mw7.6	Kashmir	81000	0.673
9	12/01/2010	Mw7	Haiti	80000	1
10	31/05/1970	Mw7.9	Ancash	66794	0.6
10.5	06/02/2023	Mw7.7 and Mw7.5*	Turkey-Syria	52355	1
11	20/06/1990	Mw7.4	Manjil-Rudbar	45000	0.99
12	22/05/1927	Mw7.7	Gansu	41420	0.976
13	30/05/1935	Mw8.1	Quetta	40000	0.99
14	26/12/1939	Mw7.7	Erzincan	39035	0.845
15	13/01/1915	Mw6.99	Avezzano	32610	1
16	26/12/2003	Mw6.6	Bam	31000	0.99
17	25/01/1939	Mw7.7	Chillan	30000	0.995
18	07/12/1988	Mw6.7	Spitak	25076	0.997
19	04/02/1976	Mw7.5	Guatemala	22778	0.99
20	11/03/2011	Mw9	Tohoku	22152	0.171
21	04/04/1905	Mw7.8	Kangra	20000	0.95
22	16/09/1978	Mw7.4	Tabas-e-Golban	19214	1
23	17/08/1999	Mw7.6	Izmit	17217	1
24	15/01/1934	Mw8	Bihar	15772	0.993
25	04/01/1970	Mw7.2	Tonghai	15621	0.95
26	21/10/1907	Mw7.2	Karatag	14000	0.65
27	26/01/2001	Mw7.6	Bhuj	13823	1
28	29/02/1960	Mw5.7	Agadir	13100	1
29	31/08/1968	Mw7.2	Great Dasht-e-Bayaz	12488	1
30	01/09/1962	Ms6.9	Buyin-Zahra	12225	1
31	10/07/1949	Mw7.6	Khait	12000	0.02
32	10/08/1931	Mw7.9	Fuyun	10200	0.99
33	19/09/1985	Mw8	Mexico City	10153	0.99
34	29/09/1993	Mw6.2	Latur-Osmanabad	10050	1
35	12/04/1921	Ml6.5	Ningxia	10000	0.9
36	25/08/1933	Mw7.3	Diexi	9365	0.5
37	25/04/2015	Mw7.8	Nepal	9055	0.945
38	15/01/1944	Mw7.1	San Juan	8000	1
39	23/12/1972	Ms6.2	Managua	7500	1
40	16/08/1976	Mw8	Moro Gulf	7079	0.12
41	22/03/1966	Mw6.8	Hebei	7064	1
42	26/05/2006	Mw6.4	Java	6736	1
43	16/01/1995	Mw6.9	Kobe	6433	0.75
44	25/06/1976	Mw7.1	Irian Jaya	6000	0.08
45	23/01/1909	Ms7	Silakor	6000	1
46	05/08/1949	Ml6.8	Ambato	6000	0.733
47	16/03/1925	Ms7	Dali	5808	0.931
48	01/05/1929	Mw7.1	Kopet-Dagh	5803	1
49	22/08/1902	Mw7.7	Atushi	5653	0.912
50	10/04/1972	Ms6.9	Qir	5374	0.991
51	28/06/1948	Mw7	Fukui	5131	0.9
52	10/10/1980	Mw7.1	El Asnam	4900	1
53	15/08/1950	Mw8.6	Assam	4826	0.7
54	24/03/1923	Mw7.2	Luhuo	4800	0.9
55	16/12/1902	Ml6.4	Andizhan	4722	1
56	30/05/1998	Mw6.5	Badakhshan 2	4500	0.7
57	28/09/2018	Mw7.5	Sulawesi	4340	0.8
58	26/11/1943	Ms7.2	Ladik	4020	1
59	27/11/1945	Mw8	Makran	4000	0.075
60	03/10/1914	Ms6.9	Burdur	4000	1
61	04/02/1998	Mw5.9	Badakhshan 1	4000	0.828
62	01/02/1944	Ms7.2	Gerede	3959	1
63	17/08/1906	Mw8.5	Valparaiso	3882	0.9
64	24/11/1976	Mw7	Muradiye	3840	1
65	31/07/1937	Ml6.9	Heze	3833	0.987
66	28/04/1903	Mw7	Malazgirt	3560	1
67	13/02/1902	Ml6.9	Shemakha	3500	1
68	20/04/1935	Ms7.1	Miaoli	3276	0.995
69	07/03/1927	Mw7.1	Tango	3274	0.95
70	28/12/1974	Ms6.2	Pattan	3150	1
71	02/03/1933	Mw8.4	Sanriku-oki	3064	0.02
72	18/04/1906	Mw7.9	San Francisco	3000	0.4
73	13/12/1982	Mw6.2	Dhamar	3000	1
74	20/12/1942	Mw7.2	Erbaa	3000	1
75	28/07/1981	Mw7.2	Golbaf	3000	1
76	13/04/2010	Mw6.9	Yushu	2968	1
77	23/11/1980	Mw6.89	Irpinia	2919	0.966
78	27/04/1931	Ms6.3	Zangezur	2890	0.983
79	09/08/1912	Ms7.3	Saros-Marmara	2836	0.993
80	17/07/1998	Mw7	Aitape	2683	0
81	12/12/1992	Mw7.7	Flores	2519	0
82	19/08/1966	Mw6.8	Varto	2517	1
83	06/05/1930	Ms7.6	Salmas	2514	1
84	20/09/1999	Mw7.6	Chi-Chi	2492	0.94
85	31/03/1931	Ml5.6	Managua	2450	0.99
86	16/07/1990	Mw7.7	Luzon	2430	0.798
87	14/08/2021	Mw7.2	Haiti	2400	1
88	06/09/1975	Ms6.7	Lice	2385	1
89	04/11/1952	Mw9	Kamchatka	2336	0
90	12/01/1945	Ms6.8	Mikawa	2306	1
91	21/05/2003	Mw6.8	Boumerdes	2278	1
92	25/05/1923	Ml5.7	Torbat	2219	1
93	06/02/1973	Ml7.7	Luhuo	2199	1
94	04/02/1975	Mw7	Haicheng	2041	0.651
95	19/04/1902	Mw7.5	Guatemala	2000	0.9
96	27/05/1995	Mw7	Neftegorsk	1989	1
97	25/01/1999	Mw6.1	Armenia	1885	0.422
98	23/07/1930	Mw6.72	Vulture	1881	1
99	30/07/1917	Mw7.3	Daguan	1879	0.042
100	04/08/1946	Mw7.9	Dominican Republic	1790	0.05
A detailed summary of the most fatal earthquake events including the preferred value plausible ranges, and ranges in the literature where errors are present (including the Risklayer CATDAT Fatality estimate for Turkey-Syria). Data published 07/02/2023. Estimates of fatalities for global lower and upper are all global sources (including ones with errors thus this shows the implausible range) Preferred toll and plausible range are those to be used in publications for news. Data is global and has been collected over decades. The Turkey-Syria event includes an estimate from CATDAT Risklayer. Author: James Daniell (Risklayer) - Data Source: CATDAT Loss Database checked as part of Daniell, Pomonis et al. (2018)