10 of the Most Dangerous Travel Destinations Vulnerable to Natural Disasters

If you are traveling to any of these tourist destinations, make sure you are making the appropriate safety preparations.

July 17, 2021; Tokyo, JAPAN; A general view of Mount Fuji from Shibuya Sky before the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images / James Lang-Imagn Images

There are a lot of people who enjoy spending their free time traveling around the world. While it can be an incredible experience, some destinations offer more dangers than others because of being prone to natural disasters.

Where are the most dangerous places in the world? A journalist research company, Journo Report, worked alongside Intersec to do a study to rank the most dangerous tourist destinations that are at risk for natural disasters.

Several key factors were used in determining what the most dangerous places to visit are. Some of them are earthquake frequency per year, the average population affected by floods, volcanic activity, and the air quality index.

From that, a composite score on a scale of 0-to-100 was used. Securing the top spot with a score of 87 was Japan.

“This ranking takes into account factors such as the sophistication of monitoring technology, the comprehensiveness of hazard coverage, and the effectiveness of alert dissemination systems. It's important to note that all these countries are continuously working to improve their disaster monitoring and early warning capabilities,” said an Intersec spokesperson in a statement.

One of the most seismically active regions in the world, Japan has to deal with about 1,500 earthquakes per year. Mexico, which has the most earthquakes on average with 1,632, came in at No. 4 on the list with a composite score of 62.

For Japan, the seismic activity contributes to the high volcanic activity index score of 122, which is the highest on the list. The air quality index of 53 is also the lowest.

No. 2 on the list with a composite score of 76.5 is Indonesia.

Their volcanic activity index of 120 is second; the only other country with a score in that category in triple-digits is Russia which comes in at No. 5 overall on the list, with a 117. 

Indonesia is one of four destinations on the list to experience 1,000+ earthquakes per year; the last one is Chile, which is No. 3 overall with a composite score of 68.5 and 1,024 earthquakes. 

When traveling on remote islands in volcanic regions of Indonesia, extreme caution needs to be exhibited. Over 635,000 people are impacted by flooding on a yearly basis as well, and an average air quality index of 152 was recorded.

The highest current average population affected by flooding and average air quality index belongs to the No. 6 destination, India, with 4,835,259 and 188, respectively. Their composite index is 59.

Rounding out the top 10 are China, the Philippines, Greece and Peru with composite indexes of 55, 53, 52 and 51.5.