The recent earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador happened within hours of each other, killing several hundred people. While both quakes were equally devastating for the countries and people involved, neither disaster has reached the scale experienced by Nepal last year.
On April 25, 2015, Nepal experienced a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that was followed 17 days later by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake. More than 5 million people were affected and more than 8,500 killed.
Between 1900 and 2015, there have been over 2.5 million fatalities globally due to earthquakes, 30 percent of these have occurred since 2000.
The period 2000–2009 was the worst decade for earthquake fatalities on record, with more than half a million people killed. The current decade (2010–2019) is already on track to exceed that, with more than 350,000 people killed in earthquakes to date.
Of the five most deadly earthquakes in documented history, two have occurred since 2000; the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that killed more than a quarter of a million people and the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake—which has the highest death toll for an earthquake ever officially recorded (316,000). The 2000s also saw earthquakes in China, Pakistan, Iran, and Japan take a combined total of more than 200,000 lives.
While the scale of these numbers is often shocking and highly emotive, it’s important that debates on the underlying science and appropriate mitigation are undertaken with care.
Urban Sprawl
Global population growth and urbanization, especially in Asia, is certainly one factor influencing the high death toll. Asia currently has the highest number of mega-cities in the world, most of which are growing fast, with some expected to grow by more than 46 percent by 2030.
The number of people living in earthquake zones is now greater than ever before. This includes those living on the Pacific Ring of Fire—a long chain of volcanoes and other active structures surrounding the Pacific Ocean—and along the Alpine-Himalayan belt. This means earthquakes that would previously have killed hundreds now kill thousands or tens of thousands as a result of increased exposure.
