Most Devastating Earthquakes
piumini moncler On Aug. 5, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake ruptured the northern reaches of the Indonesian island of Lombok, killing at least 319 people, displacing more than 160,000, destroying tens of thousands of homes, and burying villagers beneath the rubble of mosques and other structures. The disaster struck exactly one week after a foreshock clocked in with a strength of 6.4 magnitude and left 20 people dead. piumini moncler
piumini moncler outlet Lombok, which is especially popular among tourists visiting the tropical Gili Islands off its northwestern coast, lies in the center of the Indonesian archipelago, where thousands of volcano pocked isles mark the western periphery of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This horseshoe shaped strip curves loosely from the waters east of Australia, over maritime Southeast Asia, up the coasts of China and Russia, and down the west coast of the Americas from Alaska to Chile. Roughly 81% of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded happened along this volatile rim. piumini moncler outlet
The Lombok earthquakes, while disastrous, were nowhere near as destructive as some of Asia earlier shocks. But scenes of villagers in mourning, rescuers scrambling through debris, hordes of tourists crowded on a beach, desperate to escape their idyllic destination all serve as a reminder that this region of the world is a hotbed of seismic activity that can quickly turn tragic. With cities, dams and other infrastructure built atop some of the world most active faults, six of the ten deadliest quakes in recorded history happened in Asia, as did many of the most costly. Here a look at back at some of the most devastating temblors ever to strike the continent.
The 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake, China
moncler outlet online uomo More than 830,000 people died in the days after Jan. 23, 1556, when central China was struck by the deadliest earthquake ever recorded. moncler outlet online uomo
moncler outlet trebaseleghe With an epicenter in the Wei River Valley, the 8 magnitude quake reverberated throughout 10 provinces even damaging buildings in cities hundreds of miles away. moncler outlet trebaseleghe It may have killed about 60% of the population in some of the worst hit counties. The horrific death toll is largely due moncler outlet serravalle to the collapse of several cliffs in the Loess Plateau, where many people lived in caves called yaodongs. These traditional hillside dwellings, carved into the earth to create temperate caverns, crumbled to dust as the mountains shook. Landslides wiped away entire settlements. moncler outlet trebaseleghe
moncler outlet The rupture is often referred to as the Great Earthquake, a reference to the eponymous emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled at the time. It would be impossible to calculate the damage by modern monetary values, but its cost of human life is unmatched. Another devastating temblor struck the neighboring province of Ningxia in 1920, however, killing more than 200,000 people and making it among China deadliest disasters. moncler outlet
moncler outlet online shop The 1934 Nepal Bihar Earthquake moncler outlet online shop
Some six miles south of Mount Everest, the earth began to rumble on the afternoon of Jan. 15, 1934. Little was left in the wake of Nepal worst recorded earthquake, a powerful 8.1 magnitude, that leveled most of three major cities in the Kathmandu Valley and tore through parts of North and Northeast India. An estimated 10,700 to 12,000 people were killed by the quake that severed hundreds of miles of terrain from Bihar to Assam.
Surrounded by rubble near the Nepali capital, one structure remained remarkably intact: the Temple of Pashupati, the nation guardian deity, was reportedly untouched. Elsewhere, sand and water rose up from fissures in the ground, softening a 186 mile stretch of land to a soup now known as the belt. Some accounts describe buildings sinking down into the mud and floating away from moncler saldi uomo their foundations.
moncler bambino outlet Most of the deaths were in northern India Bihar, where 7,253 people reportedly died. Mahatma Gandhi visited affected areas shortly after. His reflections on the tragedy, which he characterized as divine retribution for India caste system, sparked a moral debate about the status and treatment of what he termed harijans, the lowest class piumini moncler outlet in Indian society more commonly known as Dalits or The disaster was chronicled in a book by Major General Brahma Shamsher titled The Great Earthquake of Nepal 1990 moncler outlet (the country calendar is 56 years ahead of Gregorian dates), reportedly moncler outlet online uomo first published in 1935. His compilation of first hand accounts and unparalleled details about the Nepalese Army relief efforts were republished in the wake of Nepal devastating 2015 quake. moncler bambino outlet
Seismic shifts were also taking place within the ruling Communist Party of China at the time disaster struck; just months prior, the death of Premier Zhou Enlai precipitated a leadership scramble as party Chairman Mao Zedong health deteriorated and his Cultural Revolution was in its last act. Mao died about six weeks after the earthquake, and his successor Hua Guofeng preemptively seized on the issue to consolidate support, reportedly making a personal visit in early August.
Chinese officials rejected assistance https://www.moncleroutlet-i.org from abroad and international media was not allowed access. Doctors and soldiers were sent in from all over the country. Injured residents were evacuated, often to distant hospitals, while provincial governments sheltered thousands of orphaned children. Temporary shanties sprang up throughout the devastated city and beyond. An infant born on the day of the disaster was famously named Xiedang: Thank you, party.
moncler saldi Nonetheless, the years that followed were beset by political rivalries that led to the downfall of the Maoist Gang of Four, the end of the Cultural Revolution and the resumption of power by reformist moncler bambino outlet Deng Xiaopeng. moncler saldi
moncler saldi outlet The Tangshan earthquake piumini moncler saldi was the subject of a 2006 novel by Zhang Ling titled Aftershock, later adapted to the silver screen by director Feng Xiaogang. The film revised narrative followed the lead characters lives several decades piumini moncler uomo down the line, when another calamitous quake hit central China Sichuan Province. moncler saldi outlet
moncler uomo The 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, India moncler uomo
moncler saldi uomo It had happened several times before, but the tremors of 1819 and 1956 paled in comparison to the 7.6 magnitude shock that felled swaths of the fast growing state of Gujarat on Jan. 26, 2001. At least 20,000 people are believed to have died and hundreds of thousands moncler donna of buildings destroyed in the strongest earthquake to strike the westernmost state of India in almost a century. moncler saldi uomo
piumini moncler saldi The district of Bhuj was hardest hit, some 12 miles away from the epicenter. Nearby rural villages were reportedly completely flattened, and some believe the death toll to be moncler bambino saldi higher than official estimates because it was common for some poor villagers to live their entire lives without ever being officially recognized outlet moncler by the government; no birth certificate, no identification card, no record of ever existing. TIME reported from the scene in the days after the quake that there was escaping stench of dead and burning flesh, as bodies were quickly burned to prevent the spread of disease. piumini moncler saldi
piumini moncler uomo At first, Bustami saw water retreat from shore, with fish jumping around on the empty beaches. Then, he says, heard this strange thunderous sound from somewhere, a sound I never heard before. I thought it was the sound of bombs. The water rose behind him as high as the coconut trees on the shoreline, and he was thrown off his boat. felt like doomsday, says Bustami, who, after clinging to a coconut tree, was eventually picked up by a soldier three hours later, almost 2 miles away from where he had lost his boat. piumini moncler uomo
moncler donna No other tsunami in recorded history was as deadly, with victims from all over the world counted among the moncler saldi casualties. Waves wiped out villages, cities, piumini moncler luxury getaways, schools and hospitals. Survivors moncler outlet online shop clung to palm trees as sweeping floodwaters rushed past full of broken glass, car parts and corpses. When the waters slowed and receded, survivors and rescuers trudged through the waterlogged wreckage sometimes to find they were standing on top of dead bodies. Mangroves, coral reefs and marine life were wrecked, leaving a lasting mark on the environment and regional economies. moncler donna
But the legacy of the tsunami transcended its path of destruction. Governments throughout the world pooled together some $14 billion in aid for affected regions. Shorelines rebuilt in the following years were marked with warnings, signs pointing to pathways toward higher ground, and an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System came online in 2006. didn know what a tsunami was nobody did, a survivor in the Thai resort town of Khao moncler outlet serravalle Lak told TIME ten years later. Today, they know.
The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, China
piumini moncler scontatissimi A decade on, the earthquake that rocked China Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, still looms large in the nation memory. While the 7.9 magnitude earthquake didn break records in terms of its strength, it left behind a devastating impact on the loss of human life and a prolonged aftermath. piumini moncler scontatissimi
More than 87,000 people were reported killed and missing, as well as 4.8 million rendered homeless from the quake destruction. In terms of economic losses, the quake was the second highest in absolute numbers in piumini moncler scontatissimi history, and was one of the few instances in recent history where China requested international aid and assistance to help with the mammoth recovery effort, with an estimated $137.5 billion spent on rebuilding the affected areas.
moncler bambino saldi As the Chinese government responded to the disaster under international media scrutiny, questions surfaced about the poor infrastructure in the affected region. According to UNICEF, more than 18,000 schools across Sichuan and neighboring Gansu province were damaged as the earthquake struck in the afternoon on a school day, killing thousands of children. Allegations quickly arose that shoddy construction was to blame for the quake effect on schools, and that corrupt local officials had permitted the neglect of building safety regulations. Scientists have also suggested that a nearby hydropower dam may have affected the timing and intensity of the quake through a phenomenon known as Reservoir Induced Seismicity. moncler bambino saldi
One year on from the quake in May 2009, TIME spoke to prominent Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who strongly advocated moncler saldi outlet for the parents of children killed in the tragedy. As TIME reported:
outlet moncler Ai interest in the issue began when he visited the earthquake zone weeks after the event and saw firsthand the suffering of its victims and particularly of those who had lost children. He began to write extensively about the issue on his blog already one of the country most popular and soon found readers volunteering to help him in an attempt to record the exact number of students who had been killed. It moncler uomo a project Ai says he will continue until find the last name, or I am dead. outlet moncler
moncler outlet serravalle Official counts were not released until one year on from the quake, placing the number of student deaths at 5,335. However, parents and activists disputed its accuracy, arguing that the figure was closer to 10,000 moncler outlet serravalle.