On the morning of February 6, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake with an epicenter at a depth of 17.9km shook and collapsed many buildings in central Turkey and northwestern Syria.
As of 6pm (Vietnam time), the earthquake had killed more than 1,470 people and injured about 6,000.
The number of victims and casualties will increase sharply as rescuers are trying to search for victims in the rubble.
Since 1960, the world has experienced many devastating earthquakes. Most recently in Afghanistan, on the morning of June 22, 2022, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook an area 44km southwest of the city of Khost – near the Pakistani border.
The epicenter earthquake at a depth of 50.83km that killed more than 1,000 people, injured 3,000 and destroyed 10,000 houses.
On August 14, 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook western Haiti, killing at least 304 people, injuring hundreds, and destroying about 950 houses. 7 churches, 2 hotels and 3 schools.
Previously, in Indonesia, in September 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and tsunami occurred in the city of Palu, located on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, killing more than 4,300 people.
This earthquake also “swallowed” thousands of homes and other properties, destroyed many fishing boats, shops and irrigation systems, … of the people here.
In Nepal, on April 25, 2015, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred in the Gorkha region, between the capital Kathmandu and the Nepalese city of Pokhara, with aftershocks up to magnitude 6 ,7.
The terrible earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and affected about 6,500 people; At the same time, an avalanche on the top of Mount Everest killed 17 climbers and injured more than 60.
In March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake in human history accompanied by giant tsunamis devastated the northeast of Japan.
Within an hour of the earthquake, towns along the coast were flattened by huge waves. Waves 4-5m high continuously hit houses and fields. At its highest, the tsunami in Miyako, Iwate, was estimated to be 40 meters high.
Earthquake disaster-tsunami wiped out many towns, claiming the lives of nearly 20,000 people. The number of people injured is close to 2,400.
About 100,300 houses were completely destroyed or partially damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.
A tsunami hits the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on March 11, 2011. (Photo: AFP/VNA)The earthquake and tsunami disaster was also the direct cause of the worst nuclear incidents in Japanese history at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants No. 1 and 2, and caused many other nuclear power plants to be damaged. must stop working.
The number of people infected with radiation after the disaster was 190 people. The double disaster has plunged the entire country of Japan into its worst condition since World War II.
In Haiti, in January 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 and its epicenter at a depth of about 13km, lasting 55 seconds, flattened almost the entire Haitian capital Port-Au-Prince. Tens of thousands of people died and about 1.5 million people lost their homes.
The earthquake left about 4,000-6,000 Haitians permanently disabled and so far they are still struggling to recover.
In China, one game earthquake magnitude 8.0 occurred in Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, killing 87,000 people, leaving 10 million people homeless, destroying millions of civil and social structures.
[Cập nhật động đất mạnh tại Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ: Đã có 1.200 người thiệt mạng]
Although the epicenter was in Sichuan province, both Shanghai and Beijing felt the ground shake when the quake struck. This is China’s biggest disaster since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.
In October 2005, Pakistan’s Kashmir region was hit by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake that killed 80,000 people, leaving 4 million homeless.
The epicenter of the earthquake was in the Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad. Many towns in the area are left with only ruins after this terrible earthquake.
In 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Sumatra island, West Indonesia, claimed the lives of 220,000 people in countries along the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 Indonesians. .
This is one of the most devastating natural disasters in human history. There was no warning of an impending tsunami, leaving people with no time to evacuate, even though the time the waves hit the continents were hours apart.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the enormous energy released from this earthquake is equivalent to the energy of 23,000 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2001, in the state of Gujarat, northwest India, an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 killed 20,000 people, more than 500 buildings were completely destroyed, electricity and telephone supply systems were destroyed. widespread.
In July 1998, Papua New Guinea was rocked by two earthquakes, each with a magnitude of 7.
Two undersea earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 generated three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 people near the town of Aitape on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, which is believed to be in the “belt”. fire” The Pacific Ocean is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes.
In August 1976, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck near the Philippine islands of Mindanao and Sulu, causing a tsunami up to 5 meters high at its highest point, sweeping away thousands of people while they were asleep. Sleep. Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, making it one of the worst natural disasters in Philippine history.
A month earlier, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Tangshan, China, lasting only 10 seconds but killing 500,000 people. This is considered a double earthquake because the aftershock occurred 16 hours after the first tremor was also 7.8 magnitude.
In May 1960, an earthquake with the strongest intensity ever to occur in the world (magnitude 9.5) occurred in Chile, killing nearly 5,000 people and injuring more than 2 million people.
After the earthquake, a tsunami appeared and devastated the port of Puerto Saavedra. The disaster caused about $550 million in damage to Chile, while 170 people in Japan and the Philippines died when the tsunami hit the coasts of these countries. A day later, the Volcán Puyehue volcano erupted, creating a column of ash 6,000 m and prolonging the tragedy for many more weeks.
(VNA/Vietnam+)