List of disasters in China by death toll

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This is a list of disasters in China by death toll.

Contents

Earthquake

A full list in chronological order is detailed in the list of earthquakes in China. Among which, the most fatal ones were:

DateArticleProvinceDeathsNotes
25 September 1303 Hongdong earthquake Shanxi270,000 [1]
23 January 1556 Huaxian earthquake Shaanxi100,000+ [2]
16 December 1920 Haiyuan earthquake Ningxia265,000 [3]
27 July 1976 Tangshan earthquake Hebei300,000+ [4] [5]

Famine

A full list in chronological order is detailed in the list of famines in China. The most fatal ones were:

Name; areaDeathsCauses
Great Chinese Famine of 1958–62

[6]

15–55 million Great Leap Forward economic failure. The starved could not move out because all out-of-town traffic were guarded by militia to contain the news of starvation. [7]
Chinese famine of 1876–79
  • Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan. [8]
9–13 millionDrought
Chinese famine of 1928–30
  • Gansu, Shaanxi. [9]
6 millionDrought

Fire

A full list in chronological order is detailed in the list of fires in China. The most fatal ones were:

Date, locationArticleDeaths, injuriesCauses
6 January 1878, Tianjin Tianjin soup kitchen fire 2,000, ? [10] The gate of the soup kitchen was always locked to prevent hunger from causing social unrest, which prevented evacuation in case of fire.
18 February 1977, Khorgas, Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire 694, 161 [11] Most deaths were the troops' children. At Chinese New Year, a child set off a firecracker and ignited the wreaths for the funeral of Mao Zedong, which for many months no one dared to dispose of for fear of being accused of disrespecting.
12 August 2015, Tianjin 2015 Tianjin explosions 173A series of explosions at the Port of Tianjin in Tianjin, northern China, killed 173 people.

Flood

A full list in chronological order is detailed in the list of floods in China. The most fatal ones were:

ArticleProvinceDeathsNotes
1887 Yellow River flood Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu930,000 [12]
1975 Banqiao dam failure Henan, Anhui230,000This dam failure was a landmark technological failure in the 20th century. [13]
1931 China floods Jiangsu150,000More deaths caused by the flood-led famine. [14]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Tangshan earthquake</span> Mw 7.6 earthquake in Hebei, China

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1920 Haiyuan earthquake</span> 1920 earthquake in central China

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References

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