List of disasters in Japan by death toll

Ever wondered how many people died because of natural disasters in Japan? Is it cause for concern? Does it kill more than crimes and accidents in Brazil? Today we are going to see a list of disasters in Japan with death toll.

The list below includes any natural disaster, whether terremoto, tsunami, landslide, fire, practically any natural disaster and some situations caused by humans, excluding acts of war and epidemics.

List of Disasters in Japan

The list is organized by number of deaths. It is estimated that more than 250,000 people died in the incidents below over a period greater than 100 years. The earthquake that killed the most people happened a century ago, where Japan was unprepared.

It may seem like a lot, but this highlights that Japan is safe, since in Brazil that number is reached in less than half a decade with murders and accidents due to recklessness. I like to make it clear that a person doesn't need to be afraid!

Responsive Table: Scroll the table to the side with your finger >>

deaths	Disaster	Type	Date	Place
105,385	Great Kantō earthquake in 1923	earthquake and tsunami	1 Sep 1923	Kantō Plains, Honshu
21.959 [OF]	Sanriku earthquake in 1896	earthquake and tsunami	15 June 1896	Offshore Tōhoku region, Hawaii
19.113 [OF]	1828 Typhoon North of Kyushu	typhoon and tidal wave	17 Sep 1828	Northern Kyushu Islands
15,897	Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami	earthquake and tsunami	11 Mar 2011	72 km a leste da Península de Oshika, Tōhoku
15,000	Unzen's Great Disaster	Eruption, earthquake and tsunami	21 May 1792	Mount Unzen, Kyushu
13,000	1771 Great Tsunami of Yaeyama	earthquake and tsunami	24 Apr 1771	Ishigaki Isle and Miyako Islands
7,273	Mino Earthquake – Owari	Earthquake	28 Oct 1891	Mino Province and Owari Province
7,000	Great Ansei earthquake	Earthquake	11 Nov 1855	Tokyo
6,434	Great Hanshin Earthquake	Earthquake	17 Jan 1995	Awaji Island, near Kobe
5,098	Typhoon Vera	typhoon and tidal wave	26 Sep 1959	mainly, Ise Bay, Aichi and Mie
3,769	1948 Fukui earthquake	Earthquake	28 Jun 1948	Fukui
3,756	1945 Typhoon Makurazaki	typhoon and tidal wave	17 Sep 1945	mainly, Kyushu Island, Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Ehime
3,036	1934 Muroto typhoon	typhoon and tidal wave	21 Sep 1934	Osaka Bay Area, Kyoto
3,000	1933 Sanriku earthquake	earthquake and tsunami	2 Mar 1933	Offshore Tōhoku region, Hawaii
2,925	Kita Tango earthquake in 1927	Earthquake	7 Mar 1927	Kyoto
2,306	1945 Mikawa earthquake	Earthquake	13 Jan 1945	Aichi
2,166	1934 Hakodate fire	City Fire	21 March 1934	Hakodate, Hokkaido
1.992 [OF]	1884 August typhoons	typhoon and tidal wave	26 Aug 1884	Okayama, Ehime and Hiroshima
1,930	1947 Typhoon Kathleen	typhoon and floods	16 Sep 1947	Tone River (Gunma, Saitama and Tochigi), Tokyo, Ichinoseki
1,761	1954 Typhoon Marie	Typhoon and fire in the city	26 Sep 1954	Hakodate, and Iwanai, Hokkaido
1.496 [OF]	1889 August Typhoon	Typhoon, landslide, floods	21 Aug 1889	Kii Peninsula, Nara, Wakayama
1,269	1958 Typhoon Ida	Typhoon and landslide	27 Sep 1958	Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka
1.151 [OF]	1783 eruption of Mount Asama	Eruption	5 Aug 1783	Nagano, Gunma
1,086	Tottori earthquake in 1943	Earthquake	10 Sep 1943	Tottori
1.015 [OF]	Inundação de Wakayama de 1953	Heavy rain, landslide and flood	18 Jul 1953	Kii Peninsula, Wakayama
1.001 [OF]	North Kyushu flood in 1953	Heavy rain, landslide and flood	20 Jun 1953	Kyushu Island, mainly Kumamoto and Kitakyushu
992 [OF]	Isahaya flood in 1957	Heavy rain, landslide and flood	26 Jul 1957	Nagasaki, Kumamoto
943 [OF]	1951 Typhoon Ruth	Heavy rain, Tsunami, landslide and flood	16 Oct 1951	Kyushu Island, Yamaguchi
941 [OF]	1868 Collapse of Lake Iruka	Heavy rain, embankment collapse	12 May 1868	Inuyama, Aichi
715 [OF]	Great Hanshin Flood in 1938	Heavy rain, landslide and flood	5 Jul 1938	Around Mount Rokkō area, Hyōgo
687 [OF]	1914 Hojo coal mine explosion	mining explosion	14 Dec 1914	Fukuchi, Fukuoka
621 [OF]	Kawachi	shipwreck, explosion	12 Jul 1918	Tokuyama Bay, Shunan, Yamaguchi
567 [OF]	1899 Beshi Mines landslide	Landslide, heavy rain	28 Aug 1889	Niihama, Ehime
520	Japan Airlines Flight 123	air incident	12 Aug 1985	Mount Takamagahara
477 [OF]	1888 eruption of Mount Bandai	Eruption	15 Jul 1888	Fukushima
464 [OF]	Tarumizu Maru 6	ship wreckage	6 Feb 1944	Kagoshima Bay, Tarumizu, Kagoshima
458	Miike coal mine explosion	mine explosion	9 Nov 1963	Miike Coal Mine, Fukuoka
447 [OF]	1972 Heavy rain in western Japan	Heavy rain, landslide, flooding.	13 Jul 1972	mainly, Amakusa, Kōchi and Aichi
440 [OF]	1807 Eidai Bridge collapse by stampede	Stampede	20 Sep 1807	Edo (Tokyo)
426	1858 Hietsu earthquake	Earthquake	9 Apr 1858	Gifu
375 [OF]	1936 Osarizawa mine failure	Heavy rain, dam failure	20 Nov 1936	Kazuno, Akita
322 [OF]	1982 flood in Nagasaki	Heavy rain, landslide	20 Jul 1982	Nagasaki, Kumamoto
304 [OF]	Sekirei Maru	ship wreckage	20 Dec 1945	Akashi Strait, Hyogo
264	China Airlines Flight 140	air incident	26 Apr 1994	Nagoya, Japan
230	Hokkaidō earthquake in 1993	earthquake and tsunami	11 Jul 1993	58 km west of Hokkaido, Sea of Japan
225	2018 floods in Japan	Heavy rain, flooding, landslide	28 de junho de 2018 - 9 de julho de 2018	Shikoku Western Honshu
208 [OF]	1943 Fire at the Hoteiza Theater	Fire	6 Mar 1943	Kucchan, Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido
199	Incident in the Hakkōda Mountains	mountaineering incident	23 Jan 1902	Hakkōda Mountains
191[OF]	1940 Ajikawaguchi derailment	train wreck	29 Jan 1940	Ajikawaguchi Station, Osaka
184	Hachikō line derailment	train wreck	25 Feb 1947	Saitama
162	Tsurumi rail accident	train wreck	9 Nov 1963	Tōkaidō Main Line
160	Train accident in Mikawashima	train wreck	3 May 1962	Mikawashima Station
155	Mitsumata Avalanche in 1918	Avalanche	9 Jan 1918	Mitsumata (now Yuzawa), Niigata
154 [OF]	1918 - Otori mine avalanche	Avalanche	20 Jan 1918	Asahi (now Tsuruoka), Yamagata
147 [OF]	1945 Futamata tunnel explosion	Explosion	12 Nov 1945	Soeda, Fukuoka
144 [OF]	1926 eruption of Mount Tokachi	Eruption	24 May 1926	Ishikari Mountains, Hokkaido
141	Typhoon Ewiniar	Typhoon	29 Jun 2006	Ryukyu Islands
133	All Nippon Airways Flight 60	air incident	4 Feb 1966	Tokyo Bay
129	Tachikawa air disaster	air incident	18 Jun 1953	Tachikawa
126 [OF]	1956 Yahiko Shrine Stampede	Stampede	1 Jan 1956	Yahiko, Niigata
124	BOAC Flight 911	air incident	5 Mar 1966	Mount Fuji
118 [OF]	Sennichi Department Store Building Fire	Fire	13 May 1972	Chūō-ku, Osaka
107	Railway accident in Amagasaki	train wreck	25 April 2005	Amagasaki, Hyōgo
106	Sakuragicho trains fire	train wreck	24 April 1951	Sakuragichō Station
105	Typhoon Haikui	Typhoon	1 Aug 2012	Ryukyu Islands
104 [OF]	1968 Hida river bus dive	Road accident	18 Aug 1968	Route 41, Gero, Gifu
104 [OF]	1973 Taiyo department store fire	Fire	29 Nov 1973	Kumamoto, Kyushu Island
94 [OF]	1939 Hirakata Explosion	Explosion	1 Mar 1939	Hirakata, Osaka
84 [OF]	1924 Otaru Explosion	Explosion	27 Dec 1924	Otaru, Hokkaido
79 [OF]	Explosão de Gás de Osaka de 1970	Explosion	8 Apr 1970	Kita-ku, Osaka
74	2014 Hiroshima landslides	landslide	20 Aug 2014	Hiroshima
68	Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63	air incident	3 Jul 1971	Yokotsudake
59	Typhoon Bolaven	Typhoon	19 Aug 2012	Ryukyu Islands
56	Mount Ontake eruption in 2014	Eruption	27 Sep 2014	Monte Ontake, Honshu
54	Typhoon Chataan	Typhoon	27 Jun 2002	Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
50	All Nippon Airways Flight 533	air incident	November 13, 1966	Sea of Seto Island
44	Myojo 56 fire building	Fire	1 Sep 2001	Kabukicho section of Shinjuku, Tokyo
41	East Iburi Earthquake in Hokkaido in 2018	Earthquake	6 Sep 2018	Hokkaido, Atsuma City
40	2004 Chūetsu earthquake	Earthquake	23 Oct 2004	Niigata
36	2019 Kyoto Animation Fire	Arson	18 Jul 2019	Kyoto
30	Tsuyama Massacre	spree killing	21 May 38	Rural village of Kaio and Okayama