Economic damage from world's major quakes nears $1T

Besides causing tens of 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 data compiled by Anadolu. The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 people and caused 70 million cubic meters of rubble, data from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shows. The Great Hanshin earthquake, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan in 1995, led to a death toll of over 6,400 with $200 billion in economic damage. The magnitude 8 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 magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook Los Angeles, California. The economic damage was calculated as $50 billion. 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 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. In one of the world's largest earthquakes in the world, Sumatra, Indonesia was shaken by a 9.1 magnitude temblor on Dec. 26, 2004. The earthquake created $10 billion in economic damage and 12 million cubic meters of rubble. A magnitude 7.0 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. The country had to contend with 27 million cubic meters of rubble and is still engaged in recovery efforts. Türkiye saw the most powerful and twin earthquakes on Feb. 6, 2023, that killed 45,968 people, including 4,267 Syrians. More than 13 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes, which also hit Syria. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit Türkiye on Aug. 17, 1999, killed 17,480 people and led to economic damage of $17.1 billion, according to the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation.