[buccaneer81]

The only first-world cities on the list were in Japan: Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe. Fatalities in these cities were estimated in the hundreds, not thousands.

Kobe lost over 5000 in the 1995 earthquake.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The only reason why cities are destroyed easy is because of very lax building code standards. These cities made mostly mase from brick need rebar.