What were the most expensive natural disasters in the world? Mother Nature is one fierce lady that sometimes gives us a hard time by throwing natural phenomena our way. These phenomena can take different disguise, and some will be worse than others. During the history of mankind, we have been put to the test many times by everything from tsunamis, earthquakes and tornadoes. Some of them have made more damage than others, both environmentally and economically. Here follows a list of the 11 most expensive natural disasters of all time.
The U.S. has been hit hard in the past. To learn more about other disasters that shook the states, please read our article on the Biggest Wildfires in the U.S. history.
To assemble this list and make it as accurate as possible, we used multiple valuable sources and compared the information on them before we carefully placed the disasters in the list.
11. Tsunami, Asia (2004)
The 26th of December, 2004, the world woke up to what came to be one of the biggest natural disasters in the history of mankind. A massive earthquake shook the Indian Ocean and measured 9 on the Richter scale. The following tsunami destroyed everything in its way, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and many other countries. The total cost went up to 29,4 billion USD.
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10. Northridge earthquake, U.S (1994)
Even though this quake only measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, it managed to make a lot of damage due to the location of the epicenter. Both Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley were affected by this massive quake that took place January 17, 1994. Due to the destroyed buildings and damaged people, this earthquake ended up costing 40 billion USD.
9. Floods, Thailand (2011)
Due to heavy monsoon rain 65 provinces in Thailand got flooded between the 25th of July, 2011, and the 16th of January, 2012. This large flooding is considered to be one of the worst ones yet due to the amount of water and affected people. The cost of this disaster was 43 billion USD.
8. Hurricane Andrew, U.S. (1992)
Hurricane Andrew started off over the Atlantic in August 1992. It broke loose from ther rest of the tropical wave and set course for Florida where it reached its peak with winds reaching 177 m.p.h.. The damage Andrew caused ended up costing 44,8 billion USD.
7. Heat wave, U.S. (1980)
During the year of 1980, the U.S. suffered from a massive heat wave. It only took four months of extreme heat to class this as one of the worst droughts in U.S. history. This disaster, that foremost struck farmers, ended up costing a staggering 56,4 billion USD.
6. Hurricane Sandy, U.S. (2012)
This tropical cyclone started in the Caribbean and ended up clearing the East Coast of the U.S the 20th of October 2012. This storm left nothing but misery behind and the total damage went up to 68,5 billion USD. Hurricane Sandy is the biggest one to have swept over the Atlantic Ocean.
5. Drought, U.S. (1988)
This drought is one of the worst to ever have struck the U.S. Like if the drought itself wasn’t troubling enough, the heat resulted in a dust storm, which had devastating results. This catastrophe ended up with a bill of 78 billion USD.
4. Kobe Earthquake, Japan (1995)
The 17 of January, 1995, an earthquake that measured 6.8 at the Richter scale occurred 12 miles from Kobe, Japan. It killed almost 6.500 people, which made it the deadliest natural disaster that year. The quake also took out around 100 billion USD worth of infrastructure and other buildings, and that is why this quake ends up at second place on this list.
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3. Hurricane Katrina, U.S. (2005)
Apart from being the third most expensive natural disaster in the world, Hurricane Katrina is also one of the worst disasters in the U.S. History. The hurricane hit shore on August 25, 2005 and destroyed everything in its way in New Orleans. The bill came up at a staggering 108 billion USD.
2. Sichuan earthquake, China (2008)
At 8.0 on the Richter scale, the Sichuan earthquake was a very deadly natural disaster. It struck the province of Sichuan, China the 12th of may, 2008 and came to cost 137 billion USD.
1. Earthquake and tsunami, Japan (2011)
Japan was shook by a massive earthquake on March 11, 2001, that reached 9.0 on the Richter scale. The coast near Sendai was affected the most and the following tsunami destroyed almost everything in its path. The nuclear disaster at Fukoshima Nuclear Power Plant did not make the situation better. Many lives were taken and the bill for the entire disaster ended up at 300 billion USD, which is why it is the most expensive natural disasters in the world.
