| Year Month Day | Mag | Deaths | Location | Notes |
| July 5, 1201 | 1,100,000 | Egypt-Syria | 1 | |
| Jan. 23, 1556 | 830,000 | China: Shanxi | 2 | |
| July 27, 1976 | 8 | 655,237 | NE China, Tangshan | 3 |
| 1139 | 6.8 | 300,000 | Caucasus | |
| 1662 | 300,000 | China | | |
| Oct. 11, 1737 | 300,000 | India: Calcutta | 4 | |
| 115 | 260,000 | Turkey: Antioch | | |
| 1139 | 230,000 | Syria: Aleppo | | |
| 1876 | 215,000 | India: Bay of Bengal, Andaman Islands | | |
| Dec. 22, 856 | 200,000 | Iran | | |
| 1703 | 200,000 | Japan: Jeddo | | |
| Jan. 8, 1780 | 200,000 | Iran: Tabriz | | |
| Dec. 16, 1920 | 8.5 | 200,000 | China: Gansu and Shanxi | |
| May 22, 1927 | 8.3 | 200,000 | China: Qinghai | |
| Dec. 14, 893 | 180,000 | Iran-Armenia | | |
| Dec. 26, 2004 | 9.0 | 160,000 | Sumatra | 10 |
| Sept. 1, 1923 | 8.2 | 142,807 | Japan: Tokyo-Yokohama | 5 |
| Dec. 30, 1730 | 137,000 | Japan: Hokkaido | | |
| Nov. 23, 533 | 130,000 | Syria-Turkey | 6 | |
| Dec. 28, 1908 | 7.5 | 110,000 | Italy: Messina, Sicily | |
| 1007 | 100,000 | Iraq | | |
| 1138 | 100,000 | Egypt-Syria | | |
| 1201 | 100,000 | Greece: Aegean | 7 | |
| Sept. 27, 1290 | 6.7 | 100,000 | China: Chihli | |
| Jan. 9, 1693 | 100,000 | Italy: Sicily | | |
| Nov. 30, 1731 | 100,000 | China: Beijing | | |
| 1779 | 100,000 | Iran: Tabriz | 8 | |
| 1780 | 100,000 | Iran-Caucasus | 8 | |
| Aug. 26, 1883 | 100,000 | Java | 9 | |
| May 31, 1970 | 7.8 | 70,000 | Peru | 11 |
Source: Catalog of Significant Earthquakes, USGS
Even for modern events, casualty totals are hard to get accurately (see Note 3). Ancient events are often wild guesses. Authors may make mistakes as to location and date when copying records from other sources. This list includes all events with more than 100,000 deaths in the best available global summary of major earthquakes. The two pre-instrumental magnitudes are estimated from physical effects.
Remarks
- Although not widely known, this is the largest event in the catalog. A detailed reference is "The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D." by Sbeinati, M. R.; Darawcheh, R.; and Mouty, M.; Annals of Geophysics vol. 48 (3) p. 347-435., 2005, available on line at http://hdl.handle.net/2122/908. There is an extensive discussion of the 1201 (1202?) event or events starting on page 389. The figure of 1.1 million apparently includes famine deaths. Many may not have been connected to the earthquake.
- Most listings cite this event as the greatest killer earthquake. Most fatalities were due to the collapse of dwellings dug into the loess plateau.
- The death toll in this event was later dropped to 240,000 with no explanation. Most authors uncritically cite the lower figure. Until I see a satisfactory explanation of how a death toll reported as accurate to six digits turns out to be inflated by a factor of three, I will use the higher figure.
- Some authors suggest the accounts may refer to a typhoon rather than an earthquake. This is probably the largest disaster whose exact nature is uncertain.
- Many of the casualties in this event died in the subsequent firestorm. (A little known footnote to American history is that U.S. Navy Ensign Thomas Ryan was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing a woman from a burning hotel after the earthquake. Under present regulations, he would have been given a different award.)
- Listed as affecting both northern Syria and Constantinople (Istanbul). Either this was a truly huge event or some of the locations are garbled.
- Could this be a garbled account of the event of the same year in the Levant (Note 1)?
- These are similar enough in date and location to be the same event
- Actually due to the great Krakatoa eruption and tsunami.
- Almost all deaths due to tsunami. Greatest tsunami disaster in history. Massive casualties and damage in Sumatra, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. Damage and fatalities as far away as Africa.
- Includes 20,000 at Yungay due to avalanche from Nevado Huascaran. Largest landslide disaster in history (rivaled by the volcanic mudflow from Nevado del Ruiz, below) and largest natural disaster in the Southern Hemisphere.
