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An earthquake with 9.0-magnitude struck off the coast of Honshu, Japan's most populous island near Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, on 11 March 2011. It killed at least 15,690 people and resulted in 4bn of costs.
Reuters
An earthquake with 9.0-magnitude struck off the coast of Honshu, Japan's most populous island near Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, on 11 March 2011. It killed at least 15,690 people and resulted in 4bn of costs.
Reuters
The storm slammed into New Orleans with winds of 135 mph, shutting 91% of the normal 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil production in the Gulf Coast region. It not only cost 2bn in damages and claims but caused a political storm for ex-President George W. Bush over his handling of the human fallout.
Reuters
Black smoke rises from burning buildings on aerial view of Kobe 17 January, following a massive earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale. It killed 6,434 people and cost 0bn in damages and claims.
Reuters
A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China, in May that year. It killed about 70,000 people and left over 18,000 missing people. It cost bn in damages and claims.
Reuters
The earthquake killed 3,000 people in Irpinia and cost bn in damages and claims. The tragedy was exacerbated by the fact that a high percentage of buildings in the area did not meet adequate seismic standards.
Reuters
Hurricane Sandy’s destruction in the United States accounted for more than one-third of the economic impact of natural disasters worldwide in 2012. Total costs reached bn
Reuters
The Northridge quake struck the densely populated San Fernando Valley in southern California on 17 January 1994. It was the third major earthquake to occur in the state in 23 years and cost bn overall.
Reuters
The Niigata-ken Chuetsu earthquake that on 23 October 2004 and destroyed more than 160,000 buildings and around 5,000 people were killed or injured. It cost bn.
Reuters
The economic loss of the region's earthquake totalled bn. It killed at least 523 people and injured about 12,000 others. Some 800,000 were displaced and at least 370,000 houses, 4,013 schools, 79 hospitals and 4,200 boats damaged or destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in the Valparaiso-Concepcion-Temuco area.
Reuters
Although Turkey is plagued by earthquakes, which are generally minor, this resulted in a death toll of over 17,000. Due to the earthquake being on the North Anatolian fault line it ended up costing bn.
Reuters
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and consultancy PwC warned large multinationals' dependencies on international supply chains, infrastructure and markets poses a systemic risk to 'business as usual'.
As annual economic losses from reported natural hazards were up from $10bn in 1975 to $400bn in 2011, IBTimes UK takes a look at the world's costliest natural disasters since 1980.
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