FACTBOX: Asia's worst recent natural disasters

Tue May 20, 2008 11:38am EDT
 
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(Reuters) - China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000 on Tuesday eight days after the huge tremor hit. Rescuers were still finding survivors.

Here are some of the region's worst recent natural disasters.

December 26, 2004 - ASIA - The number of dead and missing from an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia and subsequent tsunami is at least 232,000. The quake measured 9.15 in magnitude.

March 28, 2005 - INDONESIA - Nearly 1,000 people are killed after a quake of magnitude 8.7 strikes the coast off Indonesian island of Sumatra.

July/Aug - INDIA - More than 1,000 people are killed -- mostly drowned and buried by landslides -- after the heaviest rainfall ever recorded falls on the western state of Maharashtra on July 26.

Oct 8 - PAKISTAN - At least 73,320 people are killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that strikes about 95 km (60 miles) northeast of Islamabad. The quake also rocks Indian Kashmir, killing 1,244 people.

February 17, 2006 - PHILIPPINES - Mudslide triggered by heavy rain buries nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines. About 140 bodies are recovered.

May 27 - INDONESIA - More than 5,700 people are killed when an earthquake centered just off the Indian Ocean coast hits the island of Java near Yogyakarta.

June-July, 2007 - INDIAN SUBCONTINENT - Monsoon storms kill about 1,750 people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan. India is hardest hit with at least 750 people killed.

Nov 15 - BANGLADESH - Cyclone Sidr strikes Bangladesh, killing about 3,500 people.

May 2/3, 2008 - MYANMAR - As of May 20 the official toll of dead and missing is above 134,000 after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta. An estimated 2.4 million people have been left destitute.

May 12 - CHINA - The most devastating earthquake to hit China in three decades strikes southwest Sichuan. The quake, which measured magnitude 7.9, killed more than 40,000 as of May 20 with more than 32,000 missing. At least 247,000 injured.

-- China has said it expects the final death toll from the earthquake to exceed 70,000. About 4.8 million people have lost their homes.

 

Analysis

People walk on an overhead bridge in front of a shopping mall on a hazy day in Beijing, June 18, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Lee
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