KATMANDU: Hundreds are feared dead after a powerful 7.9 magnitude quake rocked Nepal on Saturday. Below is a list of some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in the past 80 years.
• August 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with a magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.
• March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.
• October 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.
• January 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.
• April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in northwest China’s Qinghai province leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.
• May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China’s southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.
• May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.
• October 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 kills more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir state. Some 3.5 million are displaced.
• March 28, 2005: An earthquake on Indonesia’s Nias island off Sumatra leaves 900 dead.
• December 26, 2004: A massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island triggers a tsunami which kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.
• December 26, 2003: A quake measuring 6.7 hits the Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,884 people and injuring 18,000.
• January 26, 2001: A massive 7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.
• September 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601.
• October 20, 1991: A quake measuring 6.6 hits the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh state in India, killing 768.
• August 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighboring Indian state of Bihar.
• July 28, 1976: A magnitude 7.8 quake hits Tangshan, in north China’s Hebei province. Officials said 242,000 people died, although some western sources said the toll was higher.
• January 15, 1934: Magnitude 8.1 quake hits eastern Nepal and Bihar state in neighboring India killing 10,700 people.
Deadliest earthquakes of the past 80 years
Deadliest earthquakes of the past 80 years
Saudi ambassador becomes first foreign envoy to meet Bangladesh’s new PM
- Tarique Rahman took oath as PM last week after landslide election win
- Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah also meets Bangladesh’s new FM
Dhaka: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Dhaka became on Sunday the first foreign envoy to meet Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Tarique Rahman since he assumed the country’s top office.
Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party made a landslide win in the Feb. 12 election, securing an absolute majority with 209 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
The son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, he was sworn in as the prime minister last week.
The Saudi government congratulated Rahman on the day he took the oath of office, and the Kingdom’s Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah was received by the premier in the Bangladesh Secretariat, where he also met Bangladesh’s new foreign minister.
“Among the ambassadors stationed in Dhaka, this is the first ambassadorial visit with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman since he assumed office,” Saleh Shibli, the prime minister’s press secretary, told Arab News.
“The ambassador conveyed greetings and best wishes to Bangladesh’s prime minister from the king and crown prince of Saudi Arabia … They discussed bilateral matters and ways to strengthen the ties among Muslim countries.”
Rahman’s administration succeeded an interim government that oversaw preparations for the next election following the 2024 student-led uprising, which toppled former leader Sheikh Hasina and ended her Awami League party’s 15-year rule.
New Cabinet members were sworn in during the same ceremony as the prime minister last week.
Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is a former UN official who served as Bangladesh’s national security adviser during the interim government’s term.
He received Saudi Arabia’s ambassador after the envoy’s meeting with the prime minister.
“The foreign minister expressed appreciation for the Saudi leadership’s role in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and across the Muslim Ummah. He also conveyed gratitude for hosting a large number of Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom and underscored the significant potential for expanding cooperation across trade, investment, energy, and other priority sectors, leveraging the geostrategic positions of both countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The Saudi ambassador expressed his support to the present government and his intention to work with the government to enhance the current bilateral relationship to a comprehensive relationship.”
Around 3.5 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia. They have been joining the Saudi labor market since 1976, when work migration to the Kingdom was established during the rule of the new prime minister’s father.
Bangladeshis are the largest expat group in the Kingdom and the largest Bangladeshi community outside Bangladesh and send home more than $5 billion in remittances every year.
