12 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters - Britannica

Sources and processingThis data is based on the following sourcesEM-DAT – The International Disasters DatabaseEM-DAT contains data on the occurrence and impacts of mass disasters worldwide from 1900 to the present day. EM-DAT data includes all categories classified as "natural disasters" (distinguished from technological disasters, such as oil spills and industrial accidents). This includes those from drought, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, extreme weather, floods, glacial lake outburst floods, mass movements, volcanic activity, and wildfires. Retrieved onApril 30, 2026Retrieved fromCitationThis is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Workbelow. EM-DAT – The International Disasters Database (2026). Maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), part of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Brussels, Belgium. EM-DAT contains data on the occurrence and impacts of mass disasters worldwide from 1900 to the present day.