Top 10 most destructive cataclysms of the last 20 years

Of the 1.35 million people who died as a result of natural disasters from 1995 to 2015, more than half were killed in earthquakes, and the rest due to hazards related to weather and climate. This is evidenced by the report of the United Nations Disaster Reduction Office and of the Center for the Study of the Epidemiology of Disasters ( Belgium).

The vast majority of deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. The poorest countries paid the highest price in terms of the number of deaths in disasters.

We present to you the ten most destructive catastrophes of that have happened in the past 20 years.

10. Drought in Somalia

This natural disaster, which lasted from 2010 to 2011, claimed the lives of more than twenty thousand Somalis. Due to the low number of rains for two consecutive seasons, the agricultural season in Somalia in 2010-2011 was the most arid since the 1950s. And the delivery of humanitarian aid to this country was hampered by the civil war.

9. Earthquake in Iran

The victims of the disaster in 2003 in the city of Bam were 26 thousand people. The magnitude of the earthquake on the Richter scale was 6.7.Since it happened early in the morning, many townspeople met death in a dream.

8. Flood in Venezuela

Happened in December 1999 due to rains that had been pouring during the week. Thirty thousand people became victims of the flood, and two hundred thousand families lost their homes.

7. Tsunami in Sri Lanka

In December 2004, Sri Lanka was hit by a terrible tsunami. Waves caused by a strong earthquake near the island of Sumatra reached a height of 15 meters. They easily flushed to the ocean the houses of the Lankans, located on the coast. As a result of this disaster, 35 thousand people were killed

6. Heat in Russia

The summer of 2010 turned out to be not just hot, but monstrously hot. The situation was aggravated by frequent fires in different regions of the country and arose because of them could. From June to August 2010, over 58 thousand people died because of the heat.

5. Earthquake in Pakistan

Again the earthquake turned out to be in the rating of the most terrible natural disasters of the last 20 years. It happened in October 2010 and led to the death of 73 thousand people. And about 3 million Pakistani citizens lost their homes over their heads.

4. Earthquake in China

In the Chinese province of Sichuan in 2008, 87 thousand people were killed. This was the result of an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 points. When the main earthquake passed, more than 10,000 repeated tremors followed. The echoes of the disaster also reached Beijing, and from this city to the epicenter - 1.5 thousand kilometers.

3. Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar

2008 was truly catastrophic for Myanmar, due to the tropical cyclone Nargis. Initially, it was assumed that it would pass along the southeast coast of India or Bangladesh. However, on May 1, the cyclone changed direction, and the wind speed increased to 215 km / h. Human losses from Nargis amounted to 139 515 people.

2. Earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia

In 2004, in the Indian Ocean, the third largest underwater earthquake in the history of observation was recorded. His strength was up to 9.3 points. This caused the emergence of giant waves, which, reaching the shores of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other countries led to mass casualties. Over 182,136 people were killed, but the number of casualties may have been much higher, as many people's bodies were carried to the ocean.

1. Earthquake in Haiti

The most terrible and devastating natural disaster in the last 20 years was the earthquake that occurred in 2010 in Haiti. The main push with a magnitude of 7 points occurred near the capital Port-au-Prince, followed by repeated jerks, many of them with an amplitude of more than 5. Approximately 229,699 people died.