The 5 Most Expensive Natural Disasters in the World

1. Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

In 2011, the most expensive natural disaster in the world hit Japan. Also referred to as the Great East Japan Earthquake, this earth tremor became the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan and one of the most powerful in the world. The undersea megathrust earthquake reached a magnitude of 9.0; it was so strong that it triggered tsunami waves as high as 133 ft. The catastrophe resulted in over 15,000 dead, 6,000 injured and 2,600 missing. Eventually, the damage amounted to a staggering $235 billion. The most impressive fact about the costliest disaster in the world is that the might of the earthquake actually managed to shift the Earth on its axis by what is estimated to be between 4 and 10 inches.