The most devastating earthquakes of this century

The earthquake that hit Türkiye on Monday killed more than 1,000 people and left over 5,000 injured, prompting Ankara to describe it as the most destructive the nation had seen in decades. The disaster was not confined to Türkiye, however, as Syria has confirmed hundreds dead and many injured.

RT looks at the most tragic earthquakes seen so far this century.

2011: Worst disaster since Chernobyl

In March 2011, an undersea megathrust earthquake struck with an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, some 72km east of Japan. Having a magnitude of 9.1, it was the second most powerful earthquake of the 21st century and the fourth biggest ever recorded since modern record-keeping practices were established in 1900.

The earthquake claimed the lives of more than 19,700 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. A tsunami caused by the quake led to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, which has been described as the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl in 1986. Three of the Japanese facility’s reactors melted down, leading to a discharge of radioactive water in the area surrounding the plant. Residents within a 20km radius of the Fukushima plant were evacuated. The estimated economic damage from the event amounted to $235 billion, according to the World Bank, making it the costliest disaster in history.