There is a day in human history that took the lives of a record number of people. The fateful date is January 23, 1556 — then the Chinese province of Shaanxi turned into a real branch of hell on earth. Unfortunately, due to the long ago events, there is no exact data on the number of people who died that day. However, according to some historical sources, more than 800 thousand people died in China. No one was spared that day: both adults and children died in terrible circumstances. What caused such a huge number of deaths? Perhaps you have already guessed what we are talking about?
One day in human history is remembered as the deadliest. Image source: goodfon.com
The 1556 Chinese Earthquake
According to the scientific publication IFL Science, on January 23, 1556, a powerful earthquake unexpectedly struck northwestern China., which made this day the deadliest in history. The epicenter was located near the city of Huaxian, the magnitude of the earthquake is estimated by modern scientists at 7.9. According to researchers, as a result of this terrible catastrophe, approximately 830 thousand people died that day.
There are no photos of the 1556 Chinese earthquake – it happened long before the invention of the camera. Image source: iflscience.com
One of the most deadly factors was the crumbling cave dwellings, in which many people lived at the time. Many died immediately as a result of the destruction, and those who remained fell victim to severe diseases and unbearable hunger that followed the disaster. The earthquake occurred at about 5 am, so the chances of people getting out of their homes in time were extremely small.
Despite the fact that the Chinese earthquake of 1556 was powerful, it was not the strongest in history. But this did not prevent it from becoming the deadliest. Given today's population of the planet, about 170 thousand people can die every day in the world. But the Shaanxi disaster in 1556 is still considered one of the worst in history in terms of the number of people who died in one day.
Tangshan earthquake in 1976
The second-largest earthquake in terms of casualties also occurred in China and relatively recently – in 1976. According to information published in an old issue of The New York Times, it took the lives of about 655 thousand people.
Aftermath of the 1976 earthquake. Image source: china-underground.com
According to the US Geological Survey, this earthquake was one of the most destructive disasters in modern history. The tragedy of 1976 was not even due to the large number of earthquakes, but to the fact that many of them occurred in densely populated areas with unstable buildings, which led to significant destruction.
Many rescuers were sent to save people. Image source: china-underground.com
The entire year of 1976 was full of tragedies, and more than 40,000 people died in other earthquakes around the world. Among the most devastating events of the year were the earthquake in Guatemala, which claimed about 23,000 lives, and the disaster in the Philippines in August, where an earthquake and tsunami killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.
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The Deadliest Days in History
When you look at the death tolls of the 1556 and 1976 earthquakes through the lens of global demographics, it's easy to see how tragic these events were. In 1556, when the world's population was barely half a billion, the 830,000 deaths in the Shaanxi earthquake represented an incredibly high relative loss of human life in a single day. Even in absolute numbers, it remains one of the deadliest days in human history.
Even the number of natural deaths is terrifying. Image source: istockphoto.com
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For comparison, in 1976 the world's population was already several billion, and although 655 thousand people died in the earthquake, this number, although colossal, did not affect the population of the Earth as much. As mentioned above, today's mortality rate worldwide is about 170 thousand people per day. Of course, there are more deaths in large-scale disasters, but the ones mentioned above are not broken. And I would like to hope that such deadly days in history will not happen again.