FACTBOX: Asia's worst recent natural disasters

Sat May 31, 2008 8:49am EDT
 
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(Reuters) - China said that the official death toll from its May 12 quake is now 68,858 and is sure to rise.

There is widespread worry that more than 30 landslide-blocked rivers could burst through and bring more havoc by flooding downstream towns and reservoirs.

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 the 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 in 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 26 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.

-- UNICEF says that more than 4,000 basic schools were either damaged or destroyed, affecting 1.1 million students, according to government figures.

May 12 - CHINA - The most devastating earthquake to hit China in three decades strikes southwest Sichuan. The quake, which measured magnitude 7.9, killed 68,858 as of May 30 with 18,618 missing. More than 360,000 people were injured.

-- An estimated 5 million people are displaced by the quake.

-- The government has received 35.28 billion yuan ($5.09 billion) in donations of cash and relief goods from home and abroad to date.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

 

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