It’s typical even today for dwellings in 3rd world countries to be made of sod, mud or rock. This is heavy material that is not held together by much; it also doesn’t take much to bring it down. If a mud hut collapses on you, you’re probably not going to survive it. In the case of stick-built houses, fire is a major concern.
I see an earlier post of mine got swallowed up into the ether.
Anyway, the AP put out a graphic from data provided by the US Geological Survey, and they ranked that Bangladeshi flooding as the worst Natural Disaster in terms of loss of life, with the dead numbering 300,000.
The list had flooding, landslides, and earthquakes only. I’d link to it, but it was a yahoo graphic and they keep shifting their photos around so numbered links are outdated every few minutes.