What was the most deadly earthquake ever?
The 27 July 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, China (MS = 7.9) caused the greatest number of deaths of any recent quake known; the most reliable estimates are that about 242,000 lives were lost. Tangshan had a pre-quake population of about a million people; the main industry is mining. One reason the death toll was so high is because most of the structures in Tangshan were multiple-story, unreinforced brick and concrete buildings. Estimates of loss of life from the worst earthquake disasters are very unreliable; understandably, when tens of thousands of people are dead and most buildings are in ruins, there are more important things to do than to count bodies. However, there have been about five quakes in the twentieth century where reports of lives lost exceeded 100,000. Most experts accept that the most deadly earthquake in historical times occurred in Shanxi Province, China in 1556; about 830,000 lives were lost.
