Deadliest earthquakes of past 30 years

Kathmandu, April 25

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Nepal on Saturday. Below is a list of some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in the past 30 years.

• August 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with a magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 on the Richter scale leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.
• March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.
• October 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.
• January 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.
• April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.
• May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China's southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.
• May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia's Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.
• October 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 kills more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Some 3.5 million are displaced.
• March 28, 2005: An earthquake on Indonesia's Nias island off Sumatra leaves 900 dead.
• December 26, 2004: A massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island triggers a tsunami which kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.
• December 26, 2003: A quake measuring 6.7 hits the Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,884 people and injuring 18,000.
• January 26, 2001: A massive 7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.
• September 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601.
• October 20, 1991: A quake measuring 6.6 hits the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh state in India, killing 768.
• August 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.
• July 28, 1976: A magnitude 7.8 quake hits Tangshan, in north China's Hebei province. Officials said 242,000 people died, although some western sources said the toll was higher.
• January 15, 1934: Magnitude 8.1 quake hits eastern Nepal and Bihar state in neighbouring India killing 10,700 people. — AFP