List of disasters in Japan by number of deaths

Have you ever wondered how many people have died due to natural disasters in Japan? Is it a cause for concern? Does it kill more than crimes and accidents in Brazil? Today we will look at a list of disasters in Japan with the number of deaths.

The list below includes any natural disaster, whether earthquake, tsunami, landslide, fire, practically any natural disaster and some situations caused by man, except acts of war and epidemics.

List of Disasters in Japan

The list is organized by the number of deaths. It is estimated that more than 250,000 people have died in the incidents below over a period of more than 100 years. The deadliest earthquake occurred a century ago, when Japan was unprepared.

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

Deaths	Disaster	Type	Date	Location
105,385	Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923	Earthquake and tsunami	Sep 1, 1923	Kanto Plains, Honshu
21,959 [OF]	Sanriku Earthquake in 1896	Earthquake and tsunami	June 15, 1896	Offshore Tōhoku region, Hawaii
19,113 [OF]	1828 Typhoon North of Kyushu	Typhoon and tidal wave	Sep 17, 1828	North of Kyushu Islands
15,897	Tōhoku Earthquake and tsunami	Earthquake and tsunami	Mar 11, 2011	72 km east of Oshika Peninsula, Tōhoku
15,000	Great Unzen Disaster	Eruption, earthquake and tsunami	May 21, 1792	Mount Unzen, Kyūshū
13,000	1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami	Earthquake and tsunami	Apr 24, 1771	Ishigaki Isle and Miyako Islands
7,273	Mino – Owari Earthquake	Earthquake	Oct 28, 1891	Mino Province and Owari Province
7,000	Great Ansei Earthquake	Earthquake	Nov 11, 1855	Tokyo
6,434	Great Hanshin Earthquake	Earthquake	Jan 17, 1995	Awaji Island, near Kobe
5,098	Typhoon Vera	Typhoon and tidal wave	Sep 26, 1959	Mainly, Ise Bay, Aichi and Mie
3,769	1948 Fukui Earthquake	Earthquake	Jun 28, 1948	Fukui
3,756	1945 Typhoon Makurazaki	Typhoon and tidal wave	Sep 17, 1945	Mainly, Kyushu Island, Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Ehime
3,036	1934 Muroto Typhoon	Typhoon and tidal wave	Sep 21, 1934	Osaka Bay Area, Kyoto
3,000	1933 Sanriku Earthquake	Earthquake and tsunami	Mar 2, 1933	Offshore Tōhoku region, Hawaii
2,925	1927 Kita Tango Earthquake	Earthquake	Mar 7, 1927	Kyoto
2,306	1945 Mikawa Earthquake	Earthquake	Jan 13, 1945	Aichi
2,166	1934 Hakodate Fire	City Fire	Mar 21, 1934	Hakodate, Hokkaido
1,992 [OF]	1884 August Typhoons	Typhoon and tidal wave	Aug 26, 1884	Okayama, Ehime and Hiroshima
1,930	1947 Typhoon Kathleen	Typhoon and floods	Sep 16, 1947	Tone River (Gunma, Saitama and Tochigi), Tokyo, Ichinoseki
1,761	1954 Typhoon Marie	Typhoon and city fire	Sep 26, 1954	Hakodate, and Iwanai, Hokkaido
1,496 [OF]	1889 August Typhoon	Typhoon, landslide, floods	Aug 21, 1889	Kii Peninsula, Nara, Wakayama
1,269	1958 Typhoon Ida	Typhoon and landslide	Sep 27, 1958	Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka
1,151 [OF]	1783 Mount Asama Eruption	Eruption	Aug 5, 1783	Nagano, Gunma
1,086	1943 Tottori Earthquake	Earthquake	Sep 10, 1943	Tottori
1,015 [OF]	1953 Wakayama Flood	Heavy rain, landslide and flooding	Jul 18, 1953	Kii Peninsula, Wakayama
1,001 [OF]	1953 Northern Kyushu Flood	Heavy rain, landslide and flooding	Jun 20, 1953	Kyushu Island, mainly, Kumamoto and Kitakyushu
992 [OF]	1957 Isahaya Flood	Heavy rain, landslide and flooding	Jul 26, 1957	Nagasaki, Kumamoto
943 [OF]	1951 Typhoon Ruth	Heavy rain, tidal wave, landslide and flooding	Oct 16, 1951	Kyushu Island, Yamaguchi
941 [OF]	1868 Iruka Lake Collapse	Heavy rain, embankment collapse	May 12, 1868	Inuyama, Aichi
715 [OF]	Great Hanshin Flood in 1938	Heavy rain, landslide and flooding	Jul 5, 1938	Around Mount Rokkō area, Hyōgo
687 [OF]	1914 Hojo Coal Mine Explosion	Mining explosion	Dec 14, 1914	Fukuchi, Fukuoka
621 [OF]	Kawachi	Shipwreck, explosion	Jul 12, 1918	Tokuyama Bay, Shunan, Yamaguchi
567 [OF]	1899 Beshi Mines Landslide	Landslide, heavy rain	Aug 28, 1889	Niihama, Ehime
520	Japan Airlines Flight 123	Aviation incident	Aug 12, 1985	Mount Takamagahara
477 [OF]	1888 Mount Bandai Eruption	Eruption	Jul 15, 1888	Fukushima
464 [OF]	Tarumizu Maru 6	Shipwreck	Feb 6, 1944	Kagoshima Bay, Tarumizu, Kagoshima
458	Miike Coal Mine Explosion	Mining explosion	Nov 9, 1963	Miike Coal Mine, Fukuoka
447 [OF]	1972 Heavy Rain in Western Japan	Heavy rain, landslide, flooding.	Jul 13, 1972	Mainly, Amakusa, Kōchi and Aichi
440 [OF]	1807 Eidai Bridge Collapse due to Landslide	Landslide	Sep 20, 1807	Edo (Tokyo)
426	1858 Hietsu Earthquake	Earthquake	Apr 9, 1858	Gifu
375 [OF]	1936 Osarizawa Mine Failure	Heavy rain, dam failure	Nov 20, 1936	Kazuno, Akita
322 [OF]	1982 Nagasaki Flood	Heavy rain, landslide	Jul 20, 1982	Nagasaki, Kumamoto
304 [OF]	Sekirei Maru	Shipwreck	Dec 20, 1945	Akashi Strait, Hyōgo
264	China Airlines Flight 140	Aviation incident	Apr 26, 1994	Nagoya, Japan
230	1993 Hokkaidō Earthquake	Earthquake and tsunami	Jul 11, 1993	58 km west of Hokkaidō, Sea of Japan
225	2018 Floods in Japan	Heavy rain, flooding, landslide	Jun 28, 2018 – Jul 9, 2018	Shikoku Western Honshu
208 [OF]	1943 Hoteiza Theater Fire	Fire	Mar 6, 1943	Kucchan, Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaidō
199	Incident in the Hakkōda Mountains	Mountaineering incident	Jan 23, 1902	Hakkōda Mountains
191[OF]	1940 Ajikawaguchi Derailment	Train wreck	Jan 29, 1940	Ajikawaguchi Station, Osaka
184	Hachikō Line Derailment	Train wreck	Feb 25, 1947	Saitama
162	Tsurumi Railway Accident	Train wreck	Nov 9, 1963	Tōkaidō Main Line
160	Mikawashima Train Accident	Train wreck	May 3, 1962	Mikawashima Station
155	Mitsumata Avalanche in 1918	Avalanche	Jan 9, 1918	Mitsumata (now Yuzawa), Niigata
154 [OF]	1918 – Otori Mine Avalanche	Avalanche	Jan 20, 1918	Asahi (now Tsuruoka), Yamagata
147 [OF]	1945 Futamata Tunnel Explosion	Explosion	Nov 12, 1945	Soeda, Fukuoka
144 [OF]	1926 Mount Tokachi Eruption	Eruption	May 24, 1926	Ishikari Mountains, Hokkaido
141	Typhoon Ewiniar	Typhoon	Jun 29, 2006	Ryukyu Islands
133	All Nippon Airways Flight 60	Aviation incident	Feb 4, 1966	Tokyo Bay
129	Tachikawa Air Disaster	Aviation incident	Jun 18, 1953	Tachikawa
126 [OF]	1956 Yahiko Shrine Landslide	Landslide	Jan 1, 1956	Yahiko, Niigata
124	BOAC Flight 911	Aviation incident	Mar 5, 1966	Mount Fuji
118 [OF]	Sennichi Department Store Building Fire	Fire	May 13, 1972	Chūō-ku, Osaka
107	Amagasaki Railway Accident	Train wreck	Apr 25, 2005	Amagasaki, Hyōgo
106	Sakuragichō Train Fire	Train wreck	Apr 24, 1951	Sakuragichō Station
105	Typhoon Haikui	Typhoon	Aug 1, 2012	Ryukyu Islands
104 [OF]	1968 Hida River Bus Dive	Traffic accident	Aug 18, 1968	Route 41, Gero, Gifu
104 [OF]	1973 Taiyo Department Store Fire	Fire	Nov 29, 1973	Kumamoto, Kyushu Island
94 [OF]	1939 Hirakata Explosion	Explosion	Mar 1, 1939	Hirakata, Osaka
84 [OF]	1924 Otaru Explosion	Explosion	Dec 27, 1924	Otaru, Hokkaido
79 [OF]	1970 Osaka Gas Explosion	Explosion	Apr 8, 1970	Kita-ku, Osaka
74	Hiroshima Landslides 2014	Landslide	Aug 20, 2014	Hiroshima
68	Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63	Aviation incident	Jul 3, 1971	Yokotsudake
59	Typhoon Bolaven	Typhoon	Aug 19, 2012	Ryukyu Islands
56	2014 Mount Ontake Eruption	Eruption	Sep 27, 2014	Mount Ontake, Honshu
54	Typhoon Chataan	Typhoon	Jun 27, 2002	Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
50	All Nippon Airways Flight 533	Aviation incident	Nov 13, 1966	Seto Inland Sea
44	Myojo 56 Building Fire	Fire	Sep 1, 2001	Kabukicho section of Shinjuku, Tokyo
41	2018 Eastern Iburi Earthquake in Hokkaido	Earthquake	Sep 6, 2018	Hokkaido, Atsuma City
40	2004 Chūetsu Earthquake	Earthquake	Oct 23, 2004	Niigata
36	2019 Kyoto Animation Fire	Arson fire	Jul 18, 2019	Kyoto
30	Tsuyama Massacre	Mass killing	May 21, 1938	Rural village of Kaio and Okayama