With a death toll of more than 50,000, the earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria in February are among the deadliest that have ever ravaged humankind. 

Over the past 100 years, earthquakes have struck around the planet, from Asia to the Americas, the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Here are the 10 most lethal earthquakes from the past century – and the deadliest of all time.

10) 2023, Türkiye and Syria (more than 50,000 deaths)

On February 6, 2023, a 7.8-magnitude quake struck the two neighboring countries. The biggest quake in Türkiye in nearly a century, which was followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor, was devastating. More than 45,000 were killed in Türkiye, with numbers expected to rise during the long process of clearing the rubble.

9) 1970: Peru (67,000 deaths)

On May 31, 1970, a 7.9-magnitude hit Peru's north coast, with many in the mountain city of Huaraz buried by a mudslide.

8) 1932: China (70,000 deaths) 

On December 25, 1932, a 7.9-magnitude quake struck Gansu province, in northwest China.

7) 2005: Pakistan (73,000 deaths)

An earthquake on October 8, 2005 was most deadly in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir. The terror continued with a further 3.5 million people displaced.

6) 2008: China (87,000 deaths)

Thousands of school pupils were among those left dead or missing when a 7.9-magnitude quake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.

5) 1948: Turkmenistan (110,000 deaths)

On October 5, 1948, well over 100,000 people were killed following a 7.3-magnitude quake in and around Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union.

4) 1923: Japan (142,000 deaths)

On September 1, 1923, two minutes before noon, a 7.9-magnitude quake shook Kanto in Japan, with much of the damage caused by fire which destroyed Tokyo.

3) 2010: Haiti (200,000 deaths)

A magnitude-7 quake on January 12, 2010, ripped through the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region.

It cut the country off from the rest of the world for 24 hours, killing 200,000 people, leaving 1.5 million homeless and shattering much of Haiti's frail infrastructure. 

In October the same year, Haiti was also hit by a cholera epidemic introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers who arrived after the quake. That killed another 10,000 people.

2) 2004: Indonesia (230,000 deaths)

On December 26, 2004, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people throughout the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia alone.

Waves 30 meter high, traveling at 700 kilometers per hour, swallowed everything in their path.

1) 1976: China (242,000 deaths)

A quake measuring 7.8 hit the industrial city of Tangshan in northeastern Hebei province. The official death toll was 242,000.

China also suffered the deadliest earthquake in history with the 1556 disaster hitting northern Shaanxi province. Contemporary estimates of the toll were over 830,000 people. This figure has been challenged, but even more recent estimates suggest the number was 450,000.

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