From time to time, our earth has witnessed natural disasters that were catastrophic and some of such natural disasters even eliminated life from earth. For instance, it’s believed that dinosaurs became extinct because of a major natural disaster, most probably because of meteorites hitting the heart or rise of ice age. In recent times, we have also witnessed quite a few natural disasters that shook the world. We have curated a list of the worst natural disasters in recent times that shook the world.
Tsunami, Indian Ocean, 2004
On the unfateful day of 26 December 2004, a tsunami hit the Indian Ocean and it can be regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in the last hundred years, due to an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 hits the Indian Ocean.
It was 26 December, 2004 where people across the world were doing their daily chores having no idea that they are going to be affected by one of the worst natural disasters ever, especially in the South-East Asia region. An earthquake with 9.1 magnitudes hit the Indian ocean at the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province. This led to a tsunami which devastated many south east Asian countries including India more than 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries were killed, and many more lost their everything.
According to many studies, it was the third-largest of its type to ever be recorded. The effect of the earthquake was so prevailing that the aftershocks were felt even in faraway places like Alaska.
Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, 2013
A powerful Typhoon hit the Philippines in SouthEast Asia in November 2013 leaving more than 6,000 people dead.
The Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan with wind speeds of 200 miles per hour on 8 November, 2013 which devastated the country with thousands of deaths and loss of millions of money. The typhoon affected more than 14 million people across 44 provinces. 4.1 million people became suddenly homeless, and nearly 6,000 people got killed and a projected 1,800 people went missing. The typhoon affected 1.1 million houses; about 33 million coconut trees were uprooted while affecting 5.9 million people.
Tangshan earthquake, China, 1976
On July 28, 1976 an Earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.5 hit the industrial city of Tangshan.
On 28 July 1976 morning, the Chinese city of Tangshan was squashed off by an earthquake with 7.8 magnitudes. The earthquake has adversely affected nearly one million people and left 240,000 people dead, making it one of the most disastrous earthquakes ever in recorded human history. About 85 percent of Tangshan's buildings were demolished and shivers were felt as far as Beijing, which is 180 kilometers away from the point of the earthquake.
Nepal Earthquake, Nepal, 2015
On April 25, 2015, an earthquake also known as the Gorkha earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8 shook the city of Kathmandu in central Nepal.
The disastrous Nepal earthquake whose central point was close to the capital city of Kathmandu shook the entire country of Nepal. Its effect was felt even in the Ganges River plain in northern India, and northwestern Bangladesh, and also in the southern parts of the Plateau of Tibet and western Bhutan. High-rise buildings of Kathmandu fell down, devastated thousands of homes and around 9,000 people were killed.
