The other events include:

February 24

Morocco. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 hit the northeastern region of Al Hoceima, killing 628 and injuring more than 900.

March 7

Madagascar: Cyclone Gafilo, the third and strongest of a series, left more than 240 people dead and 180 missing -- most of them in the sinking of a ferry and a trawler. Some 305,000 people were left homeless.

May 19

Myanmar: A cyclone, the worst recorded in almost 40 years, ravaged the coast of the Gulf of Bengal, killing at least 220 and leaving 14,000 people without homes.

May 23-24

Haiti and Dominican Republic: Floods inundated the southern half of the island of Hispaniola, resulting in more than 1,600 dead, 1,500 missing and 31,000 deprived of their homes.

July-August

Asia: Monsoon rains caused the death of about 1,240 people in Banbgladesh, Nepal and northeast India.

August 13

China: Typhoon Rananim, the most violent for seven years, killed at least 164 and left 24 missing when it struck the coast of Zheijiang in the southeast.

September 8-16

Caribbean and United States: Hurricane Ivan caused at least 108 deaths and devastated the small island of Grenada.

September 17-19

Caribbean: Floods caused by tropical storm Jeanne in Haiti left 1,870 dead and about 850 missing. The storm also killed nine people in the Bahamas, 27 in the Dominican Republic and six in Florida.

October 22

Japan: Typhoon Tokage, the deadliest in a quarter of a century, seriously damaged the southeast part of the country, leaving 93 dead or missing and more than 23 injured. A total of 216 people were killed in Japan this year by a record number of no fewer than 10 typhoons.

October 23

Chuestsu, Japan: An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck central Japan, killing 40 people and injuring 3,183 others.

November-December

Philippines: A series of four storms killed 1,800 people in the space of a month. Most of the deaths resulted from tropical storm Winnie followed a few days later by Nanmadol, which ravaged the northeast of Luzon island.