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List of natural disasters by death toll

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ2235638
Source-derived summary

A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, major collateral damage, or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, cyclones, etc. To be classified as a disaster, it must have profound environmental effects or loss of life and frequently causes financial loss.

Ten deadliest natural disasters by highest estimated death toll excluding epidemics and famines

This list takes into account only the highest estimated death toll for each and every disaster and lists them accordingly. It does not include epidemics and famines. The list also does not include the 1938 Yellow River flood, which was caused by the deliberate destruction of dikes.

Deadliest natural disasters by year excluding epidemics and famines

20th century

21st century

Lists of deadliest natural disasters by cause

Avalanche and landslides (landslips)

Disease outbreaks

Death counts are historical totals unless indicated otherwise.

Events in boldface are ongoing.

Earthquakes

Famines

Note: Some of these famines may have been caused or partially caused by humans.

Floods

Note: Some of these floods and landslides may be partially caused by humans – for example, by failure of dams, levees, seawalls or retaining walls.This list does not include the man-made 1938 Yellow River flood caused entirely by a deliberate man-made act (an act of war, destroying dikes).

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The public source identifies “List of natural disasters by death toll” as wikimedia list article. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around List, natural and disasters.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with List, natural and disasters providing the first useful test.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2235638. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1938.

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This entry incorporates text from List of natural disasters by death toll” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.