The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times. Up to 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. This cyclone was the sixth cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, and also the season's strongest, reaching a strength equivalent to a strong Category 3 hurricane.
The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on November 8 and traveled north, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on November 11, and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) the following afternoon. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected Upazila, Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 was killed by the storm.
The Pakistani government led by junta leader General Yahya Khan was severely criticized for its delayed handling of the relief operations following the storm, both by local political leaders in East Pakistan and in the international media. During the election that took place a month later, the opposition Awami League gained a landslide victory in the province, and continuing unrest between East Pakistan and the central government triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to widespread atrocities and eventually concluded with the creation of the country of Bangladesh. This storm as well as the war would also inspire ex-Beatle George Harrison and Bengali musician Ravi Shankar to organize The Concert for Bangladesh, the prototype benefit concert, to raise money for aid, in 1971.
image: 1970 Bhola cyclone track by Nilfanion - Created using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image was created by NASA. The tracking data is from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's best track database. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970_Bhola_cyclone_track.png#/media/File:1970_Bhola_cyclone_track.png
On 25 November 1839, an enormous cyclone caused a 40-foot storm surge that hit Coringa, Andhra Pradesh, wiped out the harbor city, destroyed 25,000 ships and vessels in its bay, and killed 300,000 people. Survivors never entirely rebuilt the city.
image: http://www.atomica.com/article/1236747/the-20-highest-death-tolls-caused-by-natural-disasters?s=3
On 7 October 1737, a natural disaster struck the city of Calcutta (modern-day Kolkata) in India. For a long time this was believed in Europe to have been the result of an earthquake, but it is now believed to have been a tropical cyclone. Thomas Joshua Moore, the duties collector for the British East India Company in Calcutta, wrote in his official report that a storm and flood had destroyed nearly all the thatched buildings and killed 3,000 of the city's inhabitants. Other reports from merchant ships indicated an earthquake and tidal surge were to blame, destroying 20,000 ships in the harbor and killing 300,000 people. It should be noted that the population of Calcutta at the time was around 3,000-20,000.
Although there seems to be little evidence for the popular figure of 300,000 deaths or for the existence of an earthquake at all, it is this number that shows up in popular literature. At the same time, the figure of 3000 is only an estimation of the number of deaths inside the city itself. This apparent incongruity in the data suggests a possible mix-up with the numbers for the 1839 Coringa cyclone mentioned in this article, which also suggest 20,000 sunk ships and 300,000 fatalities. Both of these figures may stem from the 300,000 figure in the 1737 super cyclone in the West Bengal region as neither one has similar numbers according to the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project's site.
image: http://www.atomica.com/article/1236747/the-20-highest-death-tolls-caused-by-natural-disasters?s=3
Typhoon Nina, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Bebeng. was the fourth-deadliest tropical cyclone on record. Approximately 229,000 people died after the Banqiao Dam collapsed and devastated areas downstream. The collapse of the dam due to heavy floods also caused a string of smaller dams to collapse, adding more damage by the typhoon.
image: Nina 1975 track by See file upload history for details. - Created using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from NASA. Tracking data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nina_1975_track.png#/media/File:Nina_1975_track.png
The Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 (October 29 – November 1, 1876) was one of the deadliest cyclones in history. It hit the coast of Backerganj (near Meghna estuary) in present-day Barisal, Bangladesh, killing about 200,000 people, half of whom were drowned by the storm surge, and the remainder died in the resultant famine. The cyclone formed over the SE Bay of Bengal as a depression near 10.0°N and 89.0°E on October 27, intensified into a cyclonic storm near 15.0°N and 89.0°E on October 30 and subsequently intensified into a severe cyclonic storm with a core of hurricane winds. The cyclone moved north up to the North Bay and then NNE. On October 31, the cyclone made landfall on Backerganj.
The maximum wind was estimated at 220 km/h (140 mph) and the surge height was 3–13.6 m (9.8–44.6 ft).
According to Banglapedia, a cyclone with a storm-surge of 12.2 metres (40 feet) hit Meghna River estuary near Chittagong, Barisal, and Noakhali. Casualty: about 200,000. The storm also caused epidemic and famine, and vast property damage.
image: The mouths of the Ganges and Bramahpootra, including the district flooded by the Cyclone, Illustrated London News
The 1881 Haiphong Typhoon was a typhoon that struck Haiphong, in what is now Vietnam, and the northern part of the Philippines on 8 October 1881. Up to 300,000 people were killed by the typhoon, 20,000 of which were in the Philippines, making it the deadliest Philippine typhoon ever recorded. It was three times the casualty of Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest Philippine typhoon in modern meteorological records.
image: 1881 Pacific typhoon 14 track by Supportstorm - Created by Supportstorm using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from NASA. Tracking data is from from The typhoons of the Chinese seas in the year 1881.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1881_Pacific_typhoon_14_track.png#/media/File:1881_Pacific_typhoon_14_track.png
The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone (IMD designation:BOB 01, JTWC designation:02B) was among the deadliest tropical cyclones on record. On the night of 29 April 1991 a powerful tropical cyclone struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 250 km/h (155 mph). The storm forced a 6 metre (20 ft) storm surge inland over a wide area, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
image: 1991 Bangladesh cyclone track by Nilfanion - Created using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image was created by NASA. The tracking data is from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's best track database. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1991_Bangladesh_cyclone_track.png#/media/File:1991_Bangladesh_cyclone_track.png
Cyclone Nargis caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall in Myanmar on Friday, 2 May 2008, sending a storm surge 40 kilometres up the densely populated Irrawaddy delta, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities. The Labutta Township alone was reported to have 80,000 dead, with about 10,000 more deaths in Bogale. There were around 55,000 people missing and many other deaths were found in other towns and areas, although the Myanmar government's official death toll may have been under-reported, and there have been allegations that government officials stopped updating the death toll after 138,000 to minimize political fallout. The feared 'second wave' of fatalities from disease and lack of relief efforts never materialised. Damage was estimated at over K62,988,000,000 (US$10 billion), which made it the most damaging cyclone ever recorded in this basin.
image: Nargis 2008 track by Cyclonebiskit - Created using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image was created by NASA. The tracking data is from the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship's Database Version 3 Revision 4.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nargis_2008_track.png#/media/File:Nargis_2008_track.png
The cyclone hit Mumbai (then Bombay) on June 6, 1882. The cyclone is known to have caused floods that killed at least 100,000 people in Mumbai alone.
", "startdate": "1882-06-06", "date_display": "day", "icon": "cycloneCircle.png", "importance": "60" }, { "id": "cyclone10", "title": "1874 Bengal cyclone", "description": "This severe cyclone killed 80,000 people and caused significant damage.
", "startdate": "1876-10-31", "date_display": "day", "icon": "cycloneCircle.png", "importance": "55" }, { "id": "earthquake1", "title": "Shaanxi earthquake", "description": "The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Jiajing earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake and is also the deadliest earthquake on record, killing approximately 830,000 people. It occurred on the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, during the Ming Dynasty. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected. An 840-kilometre-wide (520 mi) area was destroyed, and in some counties as much as 60% of the population was killed. Most of the population in the area at the time lived in yaodongs, artificial caves in loess cliffs, many of which collapsed with catastrophic loss of life.
image: China edcp relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg
The Tangshan earthquake, also known as the Great Tangshan earthquake, was a natural disaster that occurred on July 27, 1976. It is believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century by death toll. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Tangshan in Hebei, People's Republic of China, an industrial city with approximately one million inhabitants. The number of deaths initially reported by the Chinese government was 655,000, but this number has since been stated to be around 240,000 to 255,000. Another report indicates that the actual death toll was much higher, at approximately 650,000, and explains that the lower estimates are limited to Tangshan and exclude fatalities in the densely populated surrounding areas.
A further 164,000 people were recorded as being severely injured. The earthquake occurred between a series of political events involving the Communist Party of China, ultimately leading to the expulsion of the ruling Gang of Four by Mao's chosen successor, Hua Guofeng. In traditional Chinese thought, natural disasters are seen as a precursor of dynastic change.
The earthquake hit in the early morning and lasted 14 to 16 seconds. Chinese government official sources state a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, though some sources listed it as high as 8.2. It was followed by a major 7.1 magnitude aftershock some 16 hours later, increasing the death toll to over 255,000. The earthquake was generated by the 25-mile-long Tangshan Fault, which runs near the city and ruptured due to tectonic forces caused by the Amurian Plate sliding past the Eurasian Plate.
image: 1976 Tangshan by Orlovic - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:China_Hebei.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1976_Tangshan.png#/media/File:1976_Tangshan.png
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on 26 December with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The event is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami was given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, the Christmas tsunami and the Boxing Day tsunami.
The undersea megathrust earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
With a magnitude of Mw 9.1–9.3, it is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. The earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimetre (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicentre was between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than US$14 billion (2004) in humanitarian aid.
image: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake - affected countries. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_-_affected_countries.png#/media/File:2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_-_affected_countries.png
1920 Haiyuan earthquake occurred on December 16 with an epicenter at 36.50°N 105.70°E, in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, Republic of China. It was also called the 1920 Gansu earthquake because Ningxia was a part of Gansu Province when the earthquake occurred.
image: China edcp relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg
The 526 Antioch earthquake hit Syria (region) and Antioch in the Byzantine Empire in 526. It struck during late May, probably between May 20–29, at mid-morning, killing approximately 250,000 people. The earthquake was followed by a fire that destroyed most of the buildings left standing by the earthquake. The maximum intensity in Antioch is estimated to be between VIII (Severe) and IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale.
image: Syria physical location map by Syria_location_map.svg: NordNordWestSyria_physical_map.svg: Urutsegderivative work: NordNordWest - This file was derived from:Syria location map.svgSyria physical map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg#/media/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg
The 115 Antioch earthquake occurred on 13 December 115 AD. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.5 on the surface wave magnitude scale and an estimated maximum intensity of XI (extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Antioch and surrounding areas were devastated with a great loss of life and property. It triggered a local tsunami that badly damaged the harbour at Caesarea Maritima. The Roman Emperor Trajan was caught in the earthquake, as was his successor Hadrian. They escaped with only slight injuries and later began a program to rebuild the city.
image: Syria physical location map by Syria_location_map.svg: NordNordWestSyria_physical_map.svg: Urutsegderivative work: NordNordWest - This file was derived from:Syria location map.svgSyria physical map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg#/media/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg
The 1138 Aleppo earthquake was among the deadliest earthquakes in history. Its name was taken from the city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, where the most casualties were sustained. The quake occurred on 11 October 1138 and was preceded by a smaller quake on the 10th. It is frequently listed as the third deadliest earthquake in history, following on from the Shensi and Tangshan earthquakes in China. However, the figure of 230,000 dead is based on a historical conflation of this earthquake with earthquakes in November 1137 on the Jazira plain and the large seismic event of 30 September 1139 in the Transcaucasian city of Ganja. The first mention of a 230,000 death toll was by Ibn Taghribirdi in the fifteenth century.
image: Syria physical location map by Syria_location_map.svg: NordNordWestSyria_physical_map.svg: Urutsegderivative work: NordNordWest - This file was derived from:Syria location map.svgSyria physical map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg#/media/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg
A deadly earthquake in Hongdong, now China, then Mongol Empire. Approximate death toll is 200,000.
image: http://www.kepu.net.cn/english/quake/ruins/
The 856 Damghan earthquake or the 856 Qumis earthquake occurred on 22 December, 856 AD (242 A.H.). The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.9, and a maximum intensity of X (intense) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The meizoseismal area (area of maximum damage) extended for about 350 kilometres (220 mi) along the southern edge of the eastern Alborz mountains of present-day Iran including parts of Tabaristan and Gorgan. The earthquake's epicenter is estimated to be close to the city of Damghan, which was then the capital of the Persian province of Qumis. It caused approximately 200,000 deaths and is listed by the USGS as the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history.
image: Iran relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg
In 1780, a major earthquake hit near Tabriz (today the most populated city in the northwest of Iran, one of the historical capitals of Iran, and the present capital of East Azerbaijan Province) killing over 200,000 people. The tragic devastation reduced the number of inhabitants to about thirty thousand and turned the city to a mere ghost town.
image: http://listverse.com/2015/02/21/10-devastating-natural-disasters-forgotten-by-time/
A major earthquake in Udaipur, now India in 896. Approximate death toll is 170,000.
image: http://www.encountersasia.com/udaipur.html
A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne (Ouest Department), approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.
By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake. Death toll estimates range from 100,000 to about 160,000 to Haitian government figures from 220,000 to 316,000 that have been widely characterized as deliberately inflated by the Haitian government. The government of Haiti estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. There has been a history of national debt, prejudicial trade policies by other countries, and foreign intervention into national affairs that contributed to the pre-existing poverty and poor housing conditions that exacerbated the death toll.
The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.
Many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts; confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further complicated early relief work. Port-au-Prince's morgues were overwhelmed with tens of thousands of bodies. These had to be buried in mass graves. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and looting and sporadic violence were observed. On 22 January the United Nations noted that the emergency phase of the relief operation was drawing to a close, and on the following day the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors.
image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake
Several earthquake catalogues and historical sources describe the Ardabil earthquake of 893 as a destructive earthquake that struck the city of Ardabil (in Iran), on 23 March 893. The magnitude was unknown but the death toll was reported to be very large. The USGS in their 'list of Earthquakes with 50,000 or More Deaths' give an estimate that 150,000 were killed, which would make it the ninth deadliest earthquake in history.
However, although the Ardabil area is prone to numerous earthquakes and was struck by a major earthquake in 1997, the 893 event is considered to be a 'mistaken' earthquake based on misreadings of the original Armenian sources for the 893 Dvin earthquake, due to confusion caused by the Arabic name for Dvin, 'Dabil'.
image: Iran relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg
The Great Kantō earthquake struck the Kantō Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 a.m. JST (2:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw), with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. The cause was a rupture of part of the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting beneath the Okhotsk Plate along the line of the Sagami Trough.
image: Japan natural location map with side map of the Ryukyu Islands by Alexrk2 - File:Japan location map with side map of the Ryukyu Islands.svg, (Chumwa)AVHRR Land CoverSRTM Data, ETOPO1. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_natural_location_map_with_side_map_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.jpg#/media/File:Japan_natural_location_map_with_side_map_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.jpg
A major earthquake in Aleppo, Byzantine Empire (now Syria), which killed approximately 130,000.
image: Ancient Aleppo from Citadel by anjci - http://www.flickr.com/photos/9899582@N05/5654217985/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Aleppo_from_Citadel.jpg#/media/File:Ancient_Aleppo_from_Citadel.jpg
The 1908 Messina earthquake (also known as the 1908 Messina and Reggio earthquake) occurred on December 28 in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of XI (Extreme). The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 200,000 lives were lost.
image: Italy relief location map by Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) and NordNordWest - Background relief map (relief, lakes and rivers): own work by uploaderSources of data: SRTM30 Plus and NGDC World Data Bank IIAll other data (shorelines and boundaries) taken from File:Italy_location_map.svg created by NordNordWest under GFDL/CC-BY-SA-3.0Sources: United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency dataItalian Official Gazette. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italy_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Italy_relief_location_map.jpg
The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake, at a magnitude 7.3 Mw, occurred on 6 October near Ashgabat, in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. Due to censorship by the national government, the Ashgabat earthquake was not much reported in the USSR's media. Historians tend to agree that the ban on reporting the extent of the earthquake casualties and damages did not allow the Soviet government to allocate enough financial resources to adequately respond to the disaster. US Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias, former Deputy Chief of The Office Of Naval Intelligence, on his radio show Secret Missions (twice, on December 12, 1948, and on September 26, 1949), purported that the cause of the earthquake was the first Soviet atomic bomb test.
image: Relief Map of Turkmenistan by File:Turkmenistan location map.svg: NordNordWestderivative work Виктор_В - File:Turkmenistan location map.svg by NordNordWestETOPO1. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_Map_of_Turkmenistan.png#/media/File:Relief_Map_of_Turkmenistan.png
The 1290 Chihli earthquake occurred on 27 September with an epicenter near Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia, Yuan Dynasty. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum felt intensity of IX (violent) on the mercalli intensity scale. It is estimated that about 100,000 people were killed.
The earthquake destroyed 480 storehouses and countless houses in Ningcheng. Changping, Hejian, Renqiu, Xiongxian, Baoding, Yixian and Baixiang were also affected.[1] It severely damaged the Fengguo Temple in Yixian.
image: China edcp relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:China_edcp_relief_location_map.jpg
The 1970 Ancash earthquake (also known as the Great Peruvian earthquake) occurred on May 31 off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at 15:23:29 local time. Combined with a resultant landslide, it was the worst catastrophic natural disaster ever recorded in the history of Peru. Due to the large amounts of snow and ice included in the landslide and its estimated 66,794 to 70,000 casualties, it is also considered to be the world's deadliest avalanche.
image: Peru physical map by Urutseg - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peru_physical_map.svg#/media/File:Peru_physical_map.svg
The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at 08:50:39 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October in the Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan. It was centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, and it also affected Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Indian administered Kashmir. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 and had a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (Severe). The earthquake also affected countries in the surrounding region where tremors were felt in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and western China. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust.
image: Pakistan relief location map by Carport - Own work, usingFile:Pakistan location map.svg by NordNordWest.STRM-30 data for the relief. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakistan_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Pakistan_relief_location_map.jpg
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms and 7.9 Mw, and occurred at 02:28:01 PM China Standard Time at epicenter (06:28:01 UTC) on Monday, May 12 in Sichuan province, killed 69,197 people and left 18,222 missing.
It is also known as the Wenchuan earthquake, after the location of the earthquake's epicenter, Wenchuan County, Sichuan. The epicenter was 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, with a focal depth of 19 km (12 mi). The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries and as far away as both Beijing and Shanghai—1,500 km (930 mi) and 1,700 km (1,060 mi) away—where office buildings swayed with the tremor. Strong aftershocks, some exceeding magnitude 6, continued to hit the area even months after the main quake, causing new casualties and damage.
Official figures (as of July 21, 2008 12:00 CST) stated that 69,197 were confirmed dead, including 68,636 in Sichuan province, and 374,176 injured, with 18,222 listed as missing. The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless, though the number could be as high as 11 million. Approximately 15 million people lived in the affected area. It was the deadliest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people, and the strongest in the country since the 1950 Chayu earthquake, which registered at 8.5 on the Richter magnitude scale. It is the 21st deadliest earthquake of all time. On November 6, 2008, the central government announced that it would spend 1 trillion RMB (about US $146.5 billion) over the next three years to rebuild areas ravaged by the earthquake, as part of the Chinese economic stimulus program.
image: China Sichuan location map by NordNordWest - Own work, usingUnited States National Imagery and Mapping Agency dataWorld Data Base II dataSichuan province administrative regions GIS data: 1:1.000.000, County level, 1990. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_Sichuan_location_map.svg#/media/File:China_Sichuan_location_map.svg
The 1721 Tabriz earthquake occurred on April 26, with an epicenter near the city of Tabriz, Iran. Many prominent mosques and schools in the city were destroyed, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The total number of casualties caused by the earthquake is between 8,000 and 250,000; it was most likely approximately 80,000. At the time that it occurred, the earthquake was popularly interpreted as an omen of misfortune, or a demonstration of godly wrath. The destruction that the earthquake caused was a significant factor in the successful Ottoman takeover of Tabriz in 1722, as well as contributing to Tabriz's economic difficulties during that period. It also caused the destruction of some of the city's significant historical monuments. Accounts of the earthquake are often confused with descriptions of the 1727 Tabriz earthquake.
image: Iran relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg
A major earthquake in Antioch, Byzantine Empire (now Turkey), killing approximately 80 thousand.
image: http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-54653/Antioch-Turkey?
The 1667 Shamakhi earthquake occurred in November 1667 with an epicenter close to the city of Şamaxı, Azerbaijan. It had an estimated magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum felt intensity of X (intense) on the mercalli intensity scale. An estimated 80,000 people died.
image: Azerbaijan relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Azerbaijan_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Azerbaijan_relief_location_map.jpg
Great Nankaidō earthquakes and tsunamis kill 80,000 people. An earthquake and tsunami struck Shimoda on the Izu peninsula; and because the port had just been designated as the prospective location for a U.S. consulate, some construed the natural disasters as demonstration of the displeasure of the kami.
", "startdate": "1854-11-04", "enddate": "1854-11-07", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "76" }, { "id": "earthquake26", "title": "1169 Aleppo earthquake", "description": "Strong earthquake in the region of Aleppo (Zengid dynasty, now Syria) killing approximately 80 thousand.
image: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18957096
The 1727 Tabriz earthquake occurred on 18 November with an epicenter near Tabriz in northwest Iran. The maximum felt intensity was VIII (destructive) on the Mercalli intensity scale, and there were an estimated 77,000 deaths.
image: Iran relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg
Strong earthquake in Gansu, Qing Empire (now China), killing approximately 73,000.
image: Gansu in China by TUBS - Own workThis vector graphics image was created with Adobe Illustrator.This file was uploaded with Commonist.This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: China edcp location map.svg (by Uwe Dedering).. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gansu_in_China_(%2Ball_claims_hatched).svg#/media/File:Gansu_in_China_(%2Ball_claims_hatched).svg
Several earthquakes shook Jerusalem in Islamic times. The worst earthquake occurred on December 5, 1033, affecting the whole country. This devastating event killed approximately 70 thousand.
", "startdate": "1033-12-05", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "72" }, { "id": "earthquake31", "title": "847 Damascus earthquake", "description": "Major earthquake in Damascus (Abbasid Caliphate, now Syria), killing about 70 thousand.
image: Syria physical location map by Syria_location_map.svg: NordNordWestSyria_physical_map.svg: Urutsegderivative work: NordNordWest - This file was derived from:Syria location map.svgSyria physical map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg#/media/File:Syria_physical_location_map.svg
The 1868 Ecuador earthquakes occurred at 19:30 UTC on August 15 and 06:30 UTC on 16 August 1868. They caused severe damage in the northeastern part of Ecuador and in southwestern Colombia. They had an estimated magnitude of 6.3 and 6.7 and together caused up to 70,000 casualties. The earthquake of 15 August occurred near El Angel, Carchi Province, close to the border with Colombia, while that of August 16 occurred near Ibarra in Imbabura Province. Reports of these earthquakes are often confused with the effects of the earthquake of 13 August at Arica.
image: Ecuador relief location map by Urutseg - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecuador_relief_location_map.svg#/media/File:Ecuador_relief_location_map.svg
Large earthquake in Antioch (Byzantine Empire, now Turkey) on September 30, 587 and killing approximately 60,000.
", "startdate": "587-09-30", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "69" }, { "id": "earthquake34", "title": "Khorasan earthquake", "description": "Major earthquake in Khorasan, Great Seljuq Empire (now Iran), killing approximately 60 thousand.
image: Iran Old Province Khorasan. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IranOldProvinceKhorasan.png#/media/File:IranOldProvinceKhorasan.png
The Cilicia earthquake occurred northeast of the city of Adana in 1268. Over 60,000 people perished in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in southern Asia Minor.
image: Turkey relief location map by Turkey_location_map.svg: NordNordWestderivative work: Uwe Dedering (talk) - Turkey_location_map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg
The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11 at around 9 pm local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, the most powerful in Italian history, and a maximum intensity of XI (extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale, destroying at least 70 towns and cities, seriously affecting an area of 5,600 square kilometres (2,200 sq mi) and causing the death of about 60,000 people. The earthquake was followed by tsunamis that devastated the coastal villages on the Ionian Sea and in the Straits of Messina. Almost two thirds of the entire population of Catania were killed. The epicentre of the disaster was probably close to the coast, possibly offshore, although the exact position remains unknown. The extent and degree of destruction caused by the earthquake resulted in extensive rebuilding of the towns and cities of southeastern Sicily, particularly the Val di Noto, in a homogeneous late Baroque style, described as the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe.
image: Relief map of Italy Sicily by Nzeemin - TOPO30 for reliefETOPO1 for bathymetryFile:Italy Sicily location map.svg for borders and coastline; by NordNordWest, CC-BY-SA-3.0Own work usingCreated with Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)This vector image was created with Inkscape.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_map_of_Italy_Sicily.png#/media/File:Relief_map_of_Italy_Sicily.png
The 1935 Balochistan earthquake occurred on 31 May 1935 at 3:02 am at Quetta, Balochistan, British India (now part of Pakistan). The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 Mw and anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people died from the impact. This ranks as one of the deadliest earthquakes that hit South Asia. The quake was centred 4.0 kilometres south-west of Ali Jaan, Balochistan, British India.
image: Pakistan relief location map by Carport - Own work, usingFile:Pakistan location map.svg by NordNordWest.STRM-30 data for the relief. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakistan_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Pakistan_relief_location_map.jpg
Strong earthquake in Damascus (Abbasid Caliphate, now Syria) on September 18, 844 and killing approximately 50,000.
image: Syria location map by Karte: NordNordWest, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria_location_map3.svg#/media/File:Syria_location_map3.svg
Major earthquake in Tabris, Abbasid Caliphate (now Iran). Death toll approximately 50,000.
", "startdate": "1042-11-04", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "63" }, { "id": "earthquake40", "title": "1783 Calabrian earthquakes", "description": "The 1783 Calabrian earthquakes were a sequence of five strong earthquakes that hit the region of Calabria in southern Italy (then part of the Kingdom of Naples), the first two of which produced significant tsunamis. The epicenters form a clear alignment extending nearly 100 km from the Straits of Messina to about 18 km SSW of Catanzaro. The epicenter of the first earthquake occurred in the plain of Palmi. The earthquakes occurred over a period of nearly two months, all with estimated magnitudes of 5.9 or greater. Estimates of the total number of deaths lie in the range 32,000 to 50,000.
image: Relief map of Italy Calabria by Nzeemin - SRTM for reliefETOPO1 for bathymetryFile:Italy Calabria location map.svg for borders, rivers and coastline; CC-BY-SA-3.0, by NordNordWest (see User:NordNordWest/Licence), using United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency dataOwn work usingCreated with Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)This vector image was created with Inkscape.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_map_of_Italy_Calabria.png#/media/File:Relief_map_of_Italy_Calabria.png
The 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake occurred on June 21 at 00:30:14 local time in northern Iran. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.4 and a Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). Widespread damage occurred to the northwest of the capital city of Tehran, including the cities of Rudbar and Manjil. The National Geophysical Data Center estimated that $8 billion in damage occurred in the affected area. Other earthquake catalogs presented estimates of the loss of life in the range of 35,000–50,000, with a further 60,000–105,000 that were injured.
image: Iran relief location map by Uwe Dedering - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg#/media/File:Iran_relief_location_map.jpg
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, occurred in the Kingdom of Portugal on Saturday, 1 November, the holiday of All Saints' Day, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami (maremoto in Portuguese), the earthquake almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Seismologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude in the range 8.5–9.0 on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicentre in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent. Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone between 10,000 and 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.
The earthquake accentuated political tensions in the Kingdom of Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country's colonial ambitions. The event was widely discussed and dwelt upon by European Enlightenment philosophers, and inspired major developments in theodicy. As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it led to the birth of modern seismology and earthquake engineering.
image: 1755 Lisbon Earthquake Location by User:Stepanovas - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1755_Lisbon_Earthquake_Location.png#/media/File:1755_Lisbon_Earthquake_Location.png
Major earthquake in the Abbasid Caliphate, now Iran in 850, which cost lives of approximately 45 thousand.
", "startdate": "850-07-15", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "59" }, { "id": "earthquake44", "title": "Corinth earthquake", "description": "Strong earthquake in November 856 in Corinth in the Byzantine Empire (now Greece). It killed over 45 thousand.
image: Greece location map by Lencer - own work, using United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency data. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greece_location_map.svg#/media/File:Greece_location_map.svg
Major earthquake in Tunisia in the Abbasid Caliphate, now Tunisia. It occured on December 3, 856 and killed approximately 45 thousand.
", "startdate": "856-12-03", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "57" }, { "id": "earthquake46", "title": "Shandong earthquake", "description": "More than 50,000 people died during this earthquake in Shandong, Qing Empire (now China).
image: Shandong in China by TUBS - Own workThis vector graphics image was created with Adobe Illustrator.This file was uploaded with Commonist.This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: China edcp location map.svg (by Uwe Dedering).. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shandong_in_China_(%2Ball_claims_hatched).svg#/media/File:Shandong_in_China_(%2Ball_claims_hatched).svg
The 1927 Gulang earthquake occurred at 6:32 a.m. on 22 May (22:32 UTC on 21 May). This 7.6 magnitude event had an epicenter near Gulang, Kansu in the Republic of China. There were more than 40,900 casualties. It was felt up to 700 km away.
image: Topografic map of Tibetan Plateau by n.a. - http://www.demis.nl/home/pages/Gallery/examples.htm. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topografic_map_of_Tibetan_Plateau.png#/media/File:Topografic_map_of_Tibetan_Plateau.png
Strong earthquake in Antioch, Roman Empire (now Turkey). It occured in 342 and cost lives approximately 40,000.
", "startdate": "342", "date_display": "year", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "54" }, { "id": "earthquake49", "title": "662 Damghan earthquake", "description": "Strong earthquake in Damghan, Imayyad Caliphate (now Iran), approximately 40,000 victims.
", "startdate": "662-04-26", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "53" }, { "id": "earthquake50", "title": "1455 Naples earthquake", "description": "Strong earthquake in Naples (Crown of Aragon, now Italy). Death toll approximately 40,000.
image: Italy provincial location map by TUBS - Own workThis vector graphics image was created with Adobe Illustrator.This file was uploaded with Commonist.This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy.svg (by TUBS).This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: Map Region of Trentino Alto Adige.svg (by Gigillo83).. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italy_provincial_location_map.svg#/media/File:Italy_provincial_location_map.svg
Strong earthquake in the city of Cairo, back then the Ottoman Empire, now Egypt. Number of victims was approximately 40,000.
", "startdate": "1754-09-02", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "51" }, { "id": "earthquake52", "title": "1755 Tabriz earthquake", "description": "Strong earthquake in Tabriz, Iran. Death toll approximately 40,000.
", "startdate": "1755-06-07", "date_display": "day", "icon": "earthquakeCircle.png", "importance": "50" }, { "id": "earthquake53", "title": "Riobamba earthquake", "description": "The 1797 Riobamba earthquake occurred at 12:30 UTC on 4 February. It devastated the city of Riobamba and many other cities in the Interandean valley, causing up to 40,000 casualties. It is estimated that seismic intensities in the epicentral area reached at least XI on the Mercalli scale, and that the earthquake had a magnitude of 8.3, the most powerful historical event known in Ecuador. The earthquake was studied by Alexander von Humboldt, when he visited the area in 1801/2.
image: Ecuador relief location map by Urutseg - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecuador_relief_location_map.svg#/media/File:Ecuador_relief_location_map.svg
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, was one of the most powerful in recorded history and is classified as a VEI-7 event. The eruption resulted in a brief period of significant climate change that consistently led to various cases of extreme weather. Several climate forcings coincided and interacted in a systematic manner that has not been observed since, despite other large eruptions that have occurred since the early 20th century. Although the link between the post-eruption climate changes and the Tambora event has been established by various scientists, the understanding of the processes involved is incomplete.
The eruption reached a climax on 10 April 1815 and was followed by between six months and three years of increased steaming and small phreatic eruptions. The eruption column lowered global temperatures, and some experts believe this led to global cooling and worldwide harvest failures, sometimes known as the Year Without a Summer.
image: http://www.myinterestingfacts.com/mount-tambora-facts/
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) began in the afternoon of August 26, 1883 (with origins as early as May of that year), and culminated with several destructive eruptions of the remaining caldera. On August 27, two-thirds of Krakatoa collapsed in a chain of titanic explosions, destroying most of the island and its surrounding archipelago. Additional alleged seismic activity continued to be reported until February 1884, though reports of those after October 1883 were later dismissed by Rogier Verbeek's investigation. It was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history, with at least 36,417 deaths being attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Significant additional effects were also felt around the world.
image: Indonesia, Sunda Straits by flydime - Krakatau (Krakatoa, Krakatao) / Indonesia, Sunda Straits. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indonesia,_Sunda_Straits.jpg#/media/File:Indonesia,_Sunda_Straits.jpg
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was one of the most catastrophic and infamous volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.
Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas, stones, and ash to a height of 33 kilometres (21 mi), ejecting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima bombing. Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the most well known being Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The number of deaths is difficult to evaluate. The remains of about 1500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but it is not known whether they represent a small or a large part of the overall deaths.
image: Dahl-Vesuvius by Johan Christian Dahl - http://www.lsg.musin.de/geschichte/Material/rundgaenge/pompeji/1826-vesuv.png. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dahl-Vesuvius.png#/media/File:Dahl-Vesuvius.png
Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava.
The stratovolcano is famous for its eruption in 1902 and the destruction that resulted, dubbed the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. The eruption killed about 30,000 people. Most deaths were caused by pyroclastic flows and occurred in the city of Saint-Pierre, which was, at that time, the largest city on the island.
Pyroclastic flows completely destroyed St. Pierre, a town of 30,000 people, within minutes of the eruption. The eruption left only two survivors in the direct path of the flows: Louis-Auguste Cyparis survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell; Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns. Havivra Da Ifrile, a young girl, reportedly escaped with injuries during the eruption by taking a small boat to a cave down shore, and was later found adrift two miles (3 km) from the island, unconscious. The event marked the only major volcanic disaster in the history of France and its overseas territories.
image: Pelee 1902 1 by Angelo Heilprin - Photograph of Mt. Pelee by Angelo Heilprin (United States 1853-1907), May 26, 1902.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pelee_1902_1.jpg#/media/File:Pelee_1902_1.jpg
The Armero tragedy was one of the major consequences of the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia, on November 13, 1985. After 69 years of dormancy, the volcano's eruption caught nearby towns unaware, even though the government had received warnings from multiple volcanological organizations to evacuate the area when volcanic activity had been detected in September 1985.
As pyroclastic flows erupted from the volcano's crater, they melted the mountain's glaciers, sending four enormous lahars (volcanically induced mudslides, landslides, and debris flows) down its slopes at 50 kilometers per hour (30 miles per hour). The lahars picked up speed in gullies and coursed into the six major rivers at the base of the volcano; they engulfed the town of Armero, killing more than 20,000 of its almost 29,000 inhabitants.
image: Nevado del Ruiz summit 1985 - Marso by Jeffrey Marso, USGS geologist - source, small version with description here. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nevado_del_Ruiz_summit_1985_-_Marso.jpg#/media/File:Nevado_del_Ruiz_summit_1985_-_Marso.jpg
1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami resulted from the volcanic activities of Mount Unzen (in the Shimabara Peninsula of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan) on 21 May. This caused the collapse of the southern flank of the Mayuyama dome in front of Mount Unzen, resulting in a tremendous tsunami, killing 15,000 people altogether. It was also called, Shimabara erupted, Higo affected, (Shimabara means the central mountain of the Shimabara Peninsula) since many people were killed by this tsunami in Higo (Kumamoto Prefecture, situated 20 km away across the Ariake Sea).
image: Unzen pyroclastic and lahar deposits. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unzen_pyroclastic_and_lahar_deposits.jpg#/media/File:Unzen_pyroclastic_and_lahar_deposits.jpg
Mayon Volcano, also known as Mount Mayon, is an active volcano in the province of Albay, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Renowned as the 'perfect cone' because of its almost symmetric conical shape, the mountain was declared a national park and a protected landscape on July 20, 1938, the first in the country. It was reclassified a Natural Park and renamed Mayon Volcano Natural Park in the year 2000. Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines having erupted over 49 times in the past 400 years. The first record of a major eruption was witnessed in February 1616 by Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen who recorded it on his log in his circumnavigation trip around the world. The first eruption of which there is an extended account was the six-day event of July 20, 1766.
image: Mt.Mayon tam3rd by Tomas Tam. Licensed under Attribution via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt.Mayon_tam3rd.jpg#/media/File:Mt.Mayon_tam3rd.jpg
Kelud is an active stratovolcano located in East Java, Indonesia. Like many Indonesian volcanoes and others on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Kelud is known for large explosive eruptions throughout its history. More than 30 eruptions have occurred since 1000 AD. In 2007, an effusive explosion filled the crater with a lava dome. It last erupted on February 13, 2014, destroying the lava dome and ejecting boulders, stones and ashes up to West Java about 500 kilometers from Mount Kelud. The crater filled with water in rainy season. On May 19, 1919, an eruption at Kelud killed an estimated 5,000 people.
image: COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Solfataren in de krater van de vulkaan Gunung Kelud TMnr 10023721 by Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Solfataren_in_de_krater_van_de_vulkaan_Gunung_Kelud_TMnr_10023721.jpg#/media/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Solfataren_in_de_krater_van_de_vulkaan_Gunung_Kelud_TMnr_10023721.jpg
Laki or Lakagígar (Craters of Laki) is a volcanic fissure in the south of Iceland, not far from the canyon of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Lakagígar is the correct name, as Laki mountain itself did not erupt, as fissures opened up on each side of it. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the Grímsvötn volcano and including the Þórðarhyrna volcano. It lies between the glaciers of Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction.
The system erupted over an eight-month period between 1783 and 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining Grímsvötn volcano, pouring out an estimated 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that killed over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, leading to a famine which then killed approximately 25% of the island's human population.
The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in India. The eruption has been estimated to have killed over six million people globally, making it the deadliest in historical times.
image: Laki fissure by Chmee2/Valtameri - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laki_fissure_(3).jpg#/media/File:Laki_fissure_(3).jpg
Santa María Volcano is a large active volcano in the western highlands of Guatemala, in the Quetzaltenango Department near the city of Quetzaltenango.
The volcano was known by Gagxanul in the local K'iche' language, before the 16th century Spanish Conquest of the region.
The eruption of Santa María Volcano in 1902 (VEI 6) was one of the three largest eruptions of the 20th century, after the 1912 Novarupta and 1991 Pinatubo eruptions. It is also one of the five biggest eruptions of the past 200 (and probably 300) years.
image: Santiaguito from Santamaria by The original uploader was Worldtraveller at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santiaguito_from_Santamaria.jpg#/media/File:Santiaguito_from_Santamaria.jpg
The 2012 Chios forest fire was a wildfire that broke out in the southern half of the Greek island of Chios shortly after 2 a.m. on Saturday 18 August 2012.
Early on 18 August the people of two villages in southern Chios were evacuated as a safety measure, and the blaze threatened the army base near Vessas. By the evening of 20 August it was reported that a total of nine villages had been evacuated as the fire continued to advance.
By Monday 20 August local authorities reported that 7000 hectares (16,000 acres) of forest and farmland had been destroyed. Official reports on 20 August added that many mastic trees in 'Mastichochoria' region had been burned, the only world source of mastic resin, used in food, cosmetics and medicines. The beekeepers of Chios had lost 60 percent of their hives.
About 360 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers were trying to control and extinguish the fires with the use of water-bombing planes and helicopters as well as 50 vehicles. The Greek government had asked for the help of aircraft from Spain and Italy to help not only with this but six other forest fires that broke out elsewhere in Greece on 19 August and five more on 20 August.
Already on 18 August smoke from the fire was visible as far south as Crete, 350 kilometers (230 miles) away.
image: EPA
The 2001 Warragamba bushfires occurred Christmas Day, 25 December 2001 in the small New South Wales town of Warragamba, leaving 30 homes and businesses destroyed.
The bushfires in Warragamba were part of the longest official continuous bushfire emergency in NSW taking place between 21 December 2001 and 13 January 2002 and spreading across the state. Most of these fires were caused by lightning or arsonists. The fire behaviour was unusual in many areas due to extreme dryness of fuel and variable winds. The initial destruction in Warragamba and the Hawkesbury River area prompted a natural disaster declaration by the State Government. This wildfire devastated a lot because it travelled 60 kilometers in just 6 hours and affected its neighboring towns. Four thousand fire fighters put them in danger to put down the sky touching blazes of fire.
image: Canberra bushfire map. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canberra_bushfire_map-MJC.png#/media/File:Canberra_bushfire_map-MJC.png
The 2003 Canberra bushfires involved several deaths, over 490 injured, and caused severe damage to the outskirts of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, during 18–22 January 2003. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT) pastures, forests (pine plantations), and nature parks were severely damaged, and most of the renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed. After burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, the fires entered the suburbs of Canberra on 18 January 2003. Over the next ten hours, four people died and more than 500 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, requiring a significant relief and reconstruction effort.
image: 2003 Canberra Bushfires by Paul - English Wikipedia, original upload 5 August 2005 by *Paul* as Image:2003CanberraBushfires.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2003CanberraBushfires.jpg#/media/File:2003CanberraBushfires.jpg
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009 and were Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire; 173 people died and 414 were injured as a result of the fires.
As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on 7 February. Following the events of 7 February 2009 and its aftermath, that day has become widely referred to as Black Saturday.
image: Feb 7 09 vic bushfires map by Nick carson at en.wikipedia - Own workTransferred from en.wikipedia. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feb_7_09_vic_bushfires_map.PNG#/media/File:Feb_7_09_vic_bushfires_map.PNG
The 2010 Bolivia forest fires led the country's government to declare a state of emergency, as wildfires spread across the country. More than 25,000 fires are burning across 15,000 square kilometres (3,700,000 acres). These raging fires have destroyed nearly sixty homes. Bolivia is unable to combat the fires properly as it does not have enough water bombing aircraft.
There was a steep jump in fire hot-spots from 17,000 on Sunday August 15 to approximately 25,000 three days later. Some of the blazes were so strong that firefighters were unable to get close enough to contain them. The head of Bolivia's forestry service, Weimar Becerra, described the fires as 'a total disaster, it is an environmental disaster. We have six forest fires which have a height of 50 m and are growing, and as a country we do not have the capacity to put them out'.
image: 2010 Fires in South America by Jeff Schmaltz - NASA Earth Observatory. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010_Fires_in_South_America.jpg#/media/File:2010_Fires_in_South_America.jpg
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by winds of up to 110 km/h (68 mph) caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia. Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia's worst fire days in a century. The fires became the deadliest bushfire in Australian history, until the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.In Victoria, 47 people died, while in South Australia there were 28 deaths.
image: VIC-ASH-WEDNESDAY-MAP by D.Murphy - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VIC-ASH-WEDNESDAY-MAP.png#/media/File:VIC-ASH-WEDNESDAY-MAP.png
The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. They were the most deadly bushfires that Tasmania has ever experienced, leaving 62 people dead, 900 injured and over seven thousand homeless.
image: www.tasmanianbushfires.com.au
The Wallow Fire, named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, was a wildfire in eastern Arizona and a small part of western New Mexico, United States, in the White Mountains near Alpine. It was started by an abandoned campfire. As of 26 June 2011, it had burned about 841 square miles (2,180 km2) in Apache, Greenlee, Graham, and Navajo counties in Arizona and Catron County in New Mexico, and is thus the biggest fire recorded in Arizona. Nearly 6,000 people were evacuated.
image: Wallow NASA modis 6-08-11 by NASA image created by Jesse Allen. Caption by Holli Riebeek. - NASA Earth Observatory. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wallow_NASA_modis_6-08-11.jpg#/media/File:Wallow_NASA_modis_6-08-11.jpg
In August 1975, fire broke out on the Südheide which turned out to be the biggest forest fire in West Germany to that date. Serious forest fires broke out in the southern part of the area near Stüde, Neudorf-Platendorf, Meinersen and then by Eschede near Celle, with devastating effects and fatalities. Nearly 15000 firefighters tried to over-come the flames of fire.
image: WaldbrandLünebgHeideA von Hildegard Markmann - Hildegard Markmann. Lizenziert unter CC BY-SA 3.0 über Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WaldbrandL%C3%BCnebgHeideA.jpg#/media/File:WaldbrandL%C3%BCnebgHeideA.jpg
The Peshtigo Fire was a forest fire that took place on October 8, 1871 in and around Peshtigo, Wisconsin. It was a firestorm that caused the most deaths by fire in United States history, with estimated deaths of around 1,500 people, possibly as many as 2,500. Occurring on the same day as the more famous Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire has been largely forgotten. On the same day as the Peshtigo and Chicago fires, the cities of Holland and Manistee, Michigan, across Lake Michigan, also burned and the same fate befell Port Huron at the southern end of Lake Huron as well.
image: PeshtigoFireExtend by US Census, Ruhrfisch - derived from 2 sources:1) Image:Wisconsin Locator Map.PNG, which was derived from United StatesUS Census website and modified by User:Ruhrfisch2) Redrew from photograph of a map of the extend on display at the en:Peshtigo Fire Museum.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PeshtigoFireExtend.png#/media/File:PeshtigoFireExtend.png
The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup, the Big Burn, or the Devil's Broom fire) was a wildfire that burned about three million acres (1,214,057 ha), approximately the size of Connecticut) in northeast Washington, northern Idaho (the panhandle), and western Montana. The area burned included parts of the Bitterroot, Cabinet, Clearwater, Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, Kaniksu, Kootenai, Lewis and Clark, Lolo, and St. Joe National Forests. The firestorm burned over two days (August 20–21, 1910), and killed 87 people, mostly firefighters. It is believed to be the largest, although not the deadliest, forest fire in U.S. history. The outcome was to highlight firefighters as public heroes while raising public awareness surrounding national nature conservation.
image: http://www.spokesman.com/
A massive forest fire (or series of fires) which devastated forests and communities throughout much of northern New Brunswick in October 1825. It ranks among the three largest forest fires ever recorded in North America. About 1/3 of the homes in Fredericton were destroyed, but the main devastation was 100 miles (160 km) to the northeast. The preceding summer was a particularity hot one, with bush fires common. On the evening of October 7, 1825, the firestorm roared through Newcastle, New Brunswick (now part of the City of Miramichi), and in less than 3 hours reduced the town of 1,000 people to ruins - of 260 original buildings, only 12 remained. Only 6 of 70 buildings survived in the adjacent village of Douglastown. The fire similarly destroyed other communities, including Moorefield, Napan, and Black River Bridge. Chatham, Nelson, and Doaktown escaped the fire. The cause of the blaze is not known, but was likely of human origin. In total the fire(s) consumed almost 16,000 km² (about 1/5 of New Brunswick's forests). The blaze has been partly attributed to unusually hot weather in the fall and summer of 1825, coupled with outdoor fires by settlers and loggers. At least 160 people had been killed.
image: www.snipview.com
The Oakland firestorm of 1991 was a large suburban wildland-urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, and southeastern Berkeley in October 1991. The fire has also been called the Oakland hills firestorm or the East Bay Hills Fire. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres (620 ha) destroyed, included 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss has been estimated at $1.5 billion. One of the worst urban blazes in modern history.
image: Oakland firestorm 2 by NASA - NASA DART (http://dart2.arc.nasa.gov/Deployments/OaklandFirestorm1991/Oakland_Fire.html). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oakland_firestorm_2.jpg#/media/File:Oakland_firestorm_2.jpg
The 1918 Cloquet fire was a massive fire in northern Minnesota, United States in October, 1918, caused by sparks on the local railroads and dry conditions. The fire left much of western Carlton County devastated, mostly affecting Moose Lake, Cloquet, and Kettle River. Cloquet was hit the hardest by the fires. It was the worst natural disaster in Minnesota history in terms of the number of lives lost in a single day. In total, 453 lives were lost and 52,000 people were injured or displaced, 38 communities were destroyed, 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) were burned, and $73 million (US$ 1.145 billion in 2015) in property damage was suffered. Thirteen million dollars in Federal aid was disbursed.
image: Cloquet, Minnesota after the 1918 fire - Minnesota Historical Society. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloquet,_Minnesota_after_the_1918_fire.jpg#/media/File:Cloquet,_Minnesota_after_the_1918_fire.jpg
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km2), or 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
image: Fire near Old Faithful Complex 2. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_near_Old_Faithful_Complex_2.jpg#/media/File:Fire_near_Old_Faithful_Complex_2.jpg
The Cedar Fire was a wildfire which burned a large area of land in San Diego County, California in October 2003. The Cedar Fire was one of 15 wildfires burning throughout Southern California during that month, which became known as the '2003 Firestorm' and the 'Fire Siege of 2003.' The October 2003 California wildfires were estimated to have burned a total of 800,000 acres (3,200 km2). The Cedar Fire was the largest wildfire in recorded California history, with the possible exception of the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889.
image: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/fires/multimedia.html#graphics
The Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 (previously called the Great Fire of 1889) was a wildfire in California which burned large parts of Orange County and San Diego County during the last week of September, 1889.In addition to the Santiago Canyon Fire, there were several other significant fires fanned by the same gale force Santa Ana winds in San Diego and San Bernardino counties. The Santiago Canyon Fire was the largest and has been estimated as being greater than 300,000 acres (125,000 ha). Another in San Diego County has been estimated to have been greater than 60,000 acres. The Orange County fire burned through areas of chaparral and coastal sage scrub, as well as a number of farm fields in the Santa Ana Valley, where farmers attempted to control the fire by plowing ahead of it. A detailed analysis of the fire can be found in Keeley and Zedler.
image:
The Taylor Complex Fire was a 2004 wildfire in Alaska that consumed approximately 1,305,592 acres (5,284 km2) of land. By acreage, it was the biggest fire in North America. The fire also was part of the record-breaking 2004 Alaska fire season that burned more than 6,600,000 acres (27,000 km2), the most in recorded history.
image: http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/fire32/fire32.htm
The 2007 California Wildfire Season saw over 9,000 separate wildfires that consumed 1,087,110 acres (4,399.4 km2) of land. 30 of those wildfires were part of the Fall 2007 California firestorm, 160 others were injured, including at least 124 firefighters, which burned approximately 970,977 acres (about 3,900 km², or 1,500 mi sq) of land was burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border, surpassing the October 2003 California wildfires in scope, which were estimated to have burned. At the peak of the wildfire activity in October 2007, the raging wildfires were visible from space. In total, the fires displaced nearly 1 million people.
image: 2007 San Diego Fires radar 1008z by Background map by NASA. Radar data from NCDC. Image created by Hello32020. - Radar data is from the NCDC NEXRAD database and the background map is from the NASA.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2007SanDiegoFiresradar1008z.PNG#/media/File:2007SanDiegoFiresradar1008z.PNG
The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.
From 1928 to 1930, a long drought afflicted China. By some accounts, abnormal weather over central China began in the winter of late 1930. Heavy snowstorms in the winter were followed by a spring thaw and heavy rains that raised river levels significantly. The rain grew heavier in July and August 1931. 1931 was also characterized by extreme cyclone activity—in July of that year alone, nine cyclones hit the region, whereas on average only two occur per year.
Chinese sources usually indicate the death toll of the Yangtze River overflow at about 145,000, with flood damage affecting around 28.5 million, while most Western sources give a far higher death toll of between 3.7 and 4 million people.
image: Gaoyou Grand Canal Flood of 1931 – Gaoyou Lake, http://aboutgaoyou.com/history/floods/the_floods.aspx
The 1887 Yellow River flood was a devastating flood on the Yellow River (Huang He) in China. This river is prone to flooding due to the elevated nature of the river, running between dykes above the broad plains surrounding it. The flood, that began in September 1887, killed some 900,000 people. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.
image: www.rpgwebgame.com
The 1938 Yellow River flood was a flood created by the Nationalist Government in central China during the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of Japanese forces. It has been called the 'largest act of environmental warfare in history.' The number of casualties in the flood remains disputed and estimates have been revised by the Chinese government and other researchers in the decades after the event.
A 1994 PRC's official history of the war put the dead in the flood at 900,000 and the refugees at nearly 10 million. Scholars exploring the archives now give much lower figures: 400,000–500,000 dead, 3 million refugees, and 5 million people affected.
image: 1938 Huang He Flood2. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1938_Huang_He_Flood2.jpg#/media/File:1938_Huang_He_Flood2.jpg
The Banqiao Reservoir Dam is a dam on the River Ru in Zhumadian City, Henan province, China. Its failure in 1975 caused more casualties than any other dam failure in history. The Banqiao dam and Shimantan Reservoir Dam are among 62 dams in Zhumadian that failed catastrophically or were intentionally destroyed in 1975 during Typhoon Nina. The dam failures killed an estimated 171,000 people; 11 million people lost their homes. It also caused the sudden loss of 18 GW of power, the power output equivalent of roughly 9 very large modern coal-fired thermal power stations.
image: The Economic Observer
On November 5, 1530, The St. Felix’s Flood destroyed the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands and killed over 100,000 people, making it the fifth deadliest flood in human history.
image: 270 Reimerswaal by Smallegange; Luyken - Geheugen.nl Cronyk van Zeeland. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:270_Reimerswaal.JPG#/media/File:270_Reimerswaal.JPG
A major flood that affected most parts of the English Coast and Netherlands. The death toll is approximated to be 60 thousand victims.
", "startdate": "1212-06", "enddate": "1212-11", "date_display": "month", "icon": "floodCircle.png", "importance": "60" }, { "id": "flood7", "title": "Kaifeng flood", "description": "The 1642 Yellow River flood or Kaifeng flood was a man-made disaster that principally affected Kaifeng and Xuzhou. The dikes were burst – but the water destroyed Kaifeng. Over 300,000 of the 378,000 residents were killed by the flood and ensuing peripheral disasters such as famine and plague. If treated as a natural disaster, it would be one of the most deadly floods in history.
image: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/announcements/2014/china-insight-series-kaifeng-
The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then officially the Ukrainian SSR), which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.
The Chernobyl disaster was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of only two classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles. During the accident itself, 31 people died, and long-term effects such as cancers are still being investigated.
image: Chernobyl Disaster by Soviet Authorities. Via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chernobyl_Disaster.jpg#/media/File:Chernobyl_Disaster.jpg
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was an energy accident at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, initiated primarily by the tsunami of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The damage caused by the tsunami produced equipment failures, and without this equipment a loss-of-coolant accident followed with three nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials beginning on 12 March. It is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the second disaster (after Chernobyl) to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.
The largest wave in the tsunami arrived some 50 minutes after the initial earthquake. The 13 meter tall wave overwhelmed the plant's seawall, which was only 10m high. Water quickly flooded the low-lying rooms in which the emergency generators were housed. The flooded diesel generators failed soon afterwards, cutting power to the critical pumps that must continuously circulate coolant water through a Generation II reactor for several days to keep the fuel rods from melting down following the SCRAM event, as the ceramic fuel pellets in the fuel rods continue to generate Decay heat even after the fission process has terminated.
There have been no fatalities linked to short term overexposure to radiation reported due to the Fukushima accident, while approximately 18,500 people died due to the earthquake and tsunami. Calculations on future cancer cases and deaths from accumulated radiation exposures in the populations living near Fukushima and worldwide in the years and decades ahead were made by Stanford University professor and anti-nuclear advocate Mark Z. Jacobson, who predicts that there will be an eventual 130 fatalities and 180 additional cancer cases, with the majority of these cases occurring in populations in the most heavily contaminated areas of Fukushima.
image: Fukushima I by Digital Globe by Digital Globe - Earthquake and Tsunami damage-Dai Ichi Power Plant, Japan. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fukushima_I_by_Digital_Globe.jpg#/media/File:Fukushima_I_by_Digital_Globe.jpg
The Kyshtym disaster was a radiological contamination accident that occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a plutonium production site for nuclear weapons and nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Soviet Union. It measured as a Level 6 disaster on the International Nuclear Event Scale, making it the third most serious nuclear accident ever recorded, behind the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the Chernobyl disaster (both Level 7 on the INES). The event occurred in the town of Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, a closed city built around the Mayak plant. Since Ozyorsk/Mayak (also known as Chelyabinsk-40 and Chelyabinsk-65) was not marked on maps, the disaster was named after Kyshtym, the nearest known town.
image: Ecodefense Mayak Exhibition 17 Kyshtym Memorial by Ecodefense/Heinrich Boell Stiftung Russia/Slapovskaya/Nikulina. Licensed under Attribution via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecodefense_Mayak_Exhibition_17_Kyshtym_Memorial.jpg#/media/File:Ecodefense_Mayak_Exhibition_17_Kyshtym_Memorial.jpg
The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in Great Britain's history, ranked in severity at level 5 on the 7-point International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire took place in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale facility on the northwest coast of England in Cumberland (now Sellafield, Cumbria). The two piles had been built as part of the British atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October 1950 followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951.
The fire burned for three days and there was a release of radioactive contamination that spread across the UK and Europe. Of particular concern at the time was the radioactive isotope iodine-131, which may lead to cancer of the thyroid, and it has been estimated that the incident caused 240 additional cancer cases. No one was evacuated from the surrounding area, but there was a worry that milk might be dangerously contaminated. Milk from about 500 km2 of nearby countryside was diluted and destroyed for about a month. A 2010 study of workers directly involved in the cleanup found no significant long term health effects from their involvement.
image: Storm Clouds over Sellafield - geograph.org.uk - 330062 by Chris Eaton. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Storm_Clouds_over_Sellafield_-_geograph.org.uk_-_330062.jpg#/media/File:Storm_Clouds_over_Sellafield_-_geograph.org.uk_-_330062.jpg
On January 3, 1961, the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in the U.S. occurred at the NRTS. An experimental reactor called SL-1 (Stationary Low-Power Plant Number 1) was destroyed when a control rod was pulled too far out of the reactor, leading to core meltdown and a steam explosion. The reactor vessel jumped up 9 feet 1 inch (2.77 m). The concussion and blast killed all three military enlisted personnel working on the reactor. Due to the extensive radioactive isotope contamination, all three were buried in lead coffins.
image: US Atomic Energy Commission image of SL-1 reactor core being removed from National Reactor Testing Station facility in Idaho
The Iran Blizzard of February 1972 resulted in the deaths of approximately 4,000 people. A week-long period of low temperatures and winter storms, lasting from 3 to 9 February 1972, dumped more than 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow across rural areas in northwestern, central and southern Iran.
Southern Iran sustained as much as 26 feet (7.9 m) of snow, burying at least 4,000 individuals. According to contemporary reports by the newspaper Ettela'at, the city of Ardakan and outlying villages were hardest hit, with no survivors in Kakkan or Kumar. In the northwest, near the border with Turkey, the village of Sheklab and its 100 inhabitants were buried.
image: http://www.fouman.com/Y/Get_Iranian_History_Today.php?artid=1296
The Carolean Death March or the Catastrophe of Øyfjellet refers to the disastrous retreat by a Swedish Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydal mountain range in Trøndelag around the new year 1718–1719.
On January 8, 1719 the army left Haltdalen and marched to Tydal, a distance of almost 30 kilometers. Due to the cold weather, about 200 men died on the mountains from exposure. The army left Østby on the morning of January 12, 1719. That afternoon a violent northwesterly blizzard struck, with its strong wind swirling up the light snow. The resulting poor visibility and biting cold forced Armfeldt to encamp on the northern mountainside of Øyfjellet by the lake Essand. In desperate efforts to keep warm, the soldiers set fire to dwarf birch, heather, their own rifle butts and sleds, but to little effect. An estimated 200 men froze to death this first night. The storm continued the next day, and the retreat now became chaotic as the soldiers were scattered in the hills. The storm was still raging on January 14 as the first troops led by Armfeldt made their way to Handöl. The majority of the survivors arrived at Handöl on the January 15 and 16. About 3,000 men remained on the mountain, frozen to death. During the continued voyage down to Duved, where lodging had been arranged for the soldiers, another 700 men died. About 600 of the surviving 2,100 soldiers were crippled for life.
image: http://hellyeahsabaton.tumblr.com/post/113052187903/the-carolean-death-march-or-the-catastrophe-of
The 2008 Afghanistan blizzard was a fierce but not a record-breaking blizzard that struck Afghanistan in February 2008. Temperatures fell to a low of -30 C, with up to 180 centimetres of snow in the more mountainous regions, killing at least 926 people. Aid organizations and foreign troops distributed several tons of clothing, blankets, food and fuel in provinces throughout the country and in remote, mountainous villages. The hospitals performed frostbite amputations on at least 100 people across the country, as many walked barefoot in the freezing cold mud and snow. The weather also claimed more than 100,000 sheep and goats, and nearly 315,000 cattle died.
", "startdate": "2008-02", "date_display": "month", "image": "../imgs/blizzard3.jpg", "icon": "blizzardCircle.png", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Afghanistan_blizzard", "importance": "65" }, { "id": "blizzard4", "title": "Great Blizzard of 1888", "description": "The Great Blizzard of 1888 or Great Blizzard of '88 was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in the history of the United States of America. Snowfalls of 20–60 inches (51–152 cm) fell in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet (15 m). Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their houses for up to a week.
The storm, referred to as the Great White Hurricane, paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Telegraph infrastructure was disabled, isolating Montreal and most of the large northeastern U.S. cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston for days.
", "startdate": "1888-03-11", "enddate": "1888-03-14", "date_display": "day", "image": "../imgs/blizzard4.jpg", "icon": "blizzardCircle.png", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1888", "importance": "65" }, { "id": "blizzard5", "title": "1993 Storm of the Century", "description": "The 1993 Storm of the Century, also known as the '93 Super Storm, the Great Blizzard of 1993, or the No Name Storm, was a large cyclonic storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. The storm eventually dissipated in the North Atlantic Ocean on March 15, 1993. It was unique for its intensity, massive size, and wide-reaching effects, particularly in the southeastern United States. At its height, the storm stretched from Canada to Central America, but it impacted mainly the eastern United States and Cuba. The cyclone moved through the Gulf of Mexico and then through the eastern United States before moving onto Canada.
Areas as far south as central Alabama and Georgia received 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) of snow. Areas such as Birmingham, Alabama received up to 12 inches (30 cm) with isolated reports of 16 inches (41 cm). The Florida Panhandle reported up to 4 inches (10 cm), with hurricane-force wind gusts and record low barometric pressures. Between Louisiana and Cuba, the hurricane-force winds produced high storm surges across north-western Florida which, in combination with scattered tornadoes, killed dozens of people.
Record cold temperatures were seen across portions of the south and east of the US in the wake of this storm. In the United States, the storm was responsible for the loss of electric power to more than 10 million households. An estimated 40 percent of the country's population experienced the effects of the storm[4] with a total of 318 fatalities, making it one of the most deadly weather events of the 20th century.
image: NOAA
The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard, School Children's Blizzard, or Children's Blizzard, hit the U.S. plains states on January 12, 1888. The blizzard came unexpectedly on a relatively warm day, and many people were caught unaware, including children in one-room schoolhouses.
The blizzard was preceded by a snowstorm on January 5 and 6, which dropped powdery snow on the northern and central plains, and was followed by an outbreak of brutally cold temperatures from January 7 to 11.
What made the storm so deadly was the timing (during work and school hours), the suddenness, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it. In addition, the very strong wind fields behind the cold front and the powdery nature of the snow reduced visibilities on the open plains to zero. People ventured from the safety of their homes to do chores, go to town, attend school, or simply enjoy the relative warmth of the day. As a result, thousands of people—including many schoolchildren—got caught in the blizzard. The death toll was 235. Teachers generally kept children in their schoolrooms. Exceptions nearly always resulted in disaster.
", "startdate": "1888-01-12", "enddate": "1888-01-13", "date_display": "day", "icon": "blizzardCircle.png", "image": "../imgs/blizzard6.jpg", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Blizzard", "importance": "65" }, { "id": "blizzard7", "title": "Hakkōda Mountains incident", "description": "The Hakkōda Mountains incident occurred on January 23, 1902, when a group of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers became lost in a blizzard on the Hakkōda Mountains in Aomori Prefecture in northern Honshu, Japan, en route to Tashiro Hot Spring located in the Hakkōda Mountains. The 199 deaths during a single ascent make it the world's largest mountaineering disaster in the modern history of mountain climbing.
image: Memorial statue of the Hakkoda Death March, portraying Fusanosuke Gotō.
The 2003 European heat wave led to the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540. France was hit especially hard. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000. Crops in Southern Europe suffered the most from drought. The anomalous overheating affecting the atmosphere also created anomalies on sea surface stratification in the Mediterranean Sea and on the surface currents, as well. A seasonal current of the central Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ionian Stream (AIS), was affected by the warm temperatures, resulting in modifications in its path and intensity. The AIS is important for the reproduction biology of important pelagic commercial fish species, so the heatwave may have influenced indirectly the stocks of these species.
image: Reto Stöckli, Robert Simmon and David Herring, NASA Earth Observatory, based on data from the MODIS land team
The 2010 Russian wildfires were several hundred wildfires that broke out across Russia, primarily in the west in summer 2010. They started burning in late July and lasted until early September 2010. The fires were associated with record-high temperatures, which were attributed to climate change, the summer had been the hottest recorded in Russian history, and drought.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared a state of emergency in seven regions, and 28 other regions were under a state of emergency due to crop failures caused by the drought. The fires cost roughly $15 billion in damages.
A combination of the smoke from the fires, producing heavy smog blanketing large urban regions and the record-breaking heat wave put stress on the Russian healthcare system. Munich Re estimated that in all, 56,000 people died from the effects of the smog and the heat wave. The 2010 wildfires were the worst on record to that time; in 2012, however, new wildfires broke out, and they proved even more extensive and damaging.
image: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen
The North American Drought of 1988 ranks among the worst episodes of drought in the United States. This multi-year drought began in most areas in 1988 and continued into 1989. The drought caused $60 billion (1988 United States dollars) in damage ($120 billion in 2014 United States dollars, adjusting for inflation). The drought occasioned some of the worst blowing-dust events since 1977 or the 1930s in many locations in the Midwestern United States, including a protracted dust storm, which closed schools in South Dakota in late February 1988. During the spring, several weather stations set records for lowest monthly total precipitation and longest interval between measurable precipitation, for example, 55 days in a row without precipitation in Milwaukee. During the summer, two record-setting heat waves developed, similar to those of 1934 and 1936. The concurrent heat waves killed 4,800 to 17,000 people in the United States. During the summer of 1988, the drought led to many wildfires in forested western North America, including the Yellowstone fires of 1988. At its peak, the drought covered 45% of the United States. While covering less area than the Dust Bowl, which covered 70% of the United States, the drought of 1988 ranks as not only the costliest drought in United States history but also the costliest natural disaster in United States history before Hurricane Katrina. In Canada, drought-related losses added to $1.8 billion (1988 Canadian dollars).
image: http://people.atmos.ucla.edu/fovell/AS3/88drought.html
The 2006 European heat wave was a period of exceptionally hot weather that arrived at the end of June 2006 in certain European countries. The United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and western parts of Russia were most affected. Several records were broken. In the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom, July 2006 was the warmest month since official measurements began.
image: MODIS, Terra data, NASA
In May 2015, India was struck by a severe heat wave. As of 3 June 2015, it has caused the deaths of more than 2,500 people in multiple regions. The heat wave occurred during the Indian dry season, which typically lasts from March to July with peak temperatures in April and May. Although it typically remains hot until late October, Indian monsoons often provide some respite from the heat.
The South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring Telangana, where more than 1,735 and 585 people died respectively, were the areas most affected by the heat wave. Other casualties were from the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. The high demand for electricity to power air conditioning led to power outages in some cities. The 2015 heat wave has had the highest recorded temperatures since 1995.
image: EPA/JAGADEESH NV
A severe heat wave with temperatures as high as 49 °C (120 °F) struck southern Pakistan in June 2015. It caused the deaths of about 2,000 people from dehydration and heat stroke, mostly in Sindh province and its capital city, Karachi. The heat wave also claimed the lives of zoo animals and countless agricultural livestock. The event followed a separate heat wave in neighboring India that killed 2,500 people in May 2015.
Karachi recorded its highest temperatures since 1979. By 24 June 2015, the temperature and death toll began to abate; the maximum temperature in Karachi was 37 °C (98 °F), and officials reported 58 deaths compared to 300 the previous day.
image: Reuters
The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population — making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.
Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients; in contrast the 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults. Modern research, using virus taken from the bodies of frozen victims, has concluded that the virus kills through a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system). The strong immune reactions of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in fewer deaths among those groups.
Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the pandemic's geographic origin. It was implicated in the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s.
To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the United States; but papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain (such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII), creating a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit — thus the pandemic's nickname Spanish flu. In Spain, a different nickname was adopted, the Naples Soldier, which came from a musical operetta (zarzuela) titled La canción del olvido (The Song of Forgetting). The operetta premiered in Madrid during the first epidemic wave, and Federico Romero, one of the librettists, quipped that the play's most popular musical number, Naples Soldier, was as catchy as the flu.
image: Spanish flu death chart by (Image: courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine) - Pandemic Influenza: The Inside Story. Nicholls H, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/2/2006, e50 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040050. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spanish_flu_death_chart.png#/media/File:Spanish_flu_death_chart.png
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53. Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, probably causing several forms of plague.
The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of Central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1343. From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. The world population as a whole did not recover to pre-plague levels until the 17th century. The plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century.
The plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history.
animation: Blackdeath2 by The original uploader was Andrei nacu at English Wikipedia - Created by the author. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackdeath2.gif#/media/File:Blackdeath2.gif
Third Pandemic is the designation of a major bubonic plague pandemic that began in Yunnan province in China in 1855. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year.
The name refers to this pandemic being the third major bubonic plague outbreak known to western sources. The first was the Plague of Justinian, which ravaged the Byzantine Empire and surrounding areas from 541 to 542. The second was the Black Death, which killed at least one third of Europe's population in a series of expanding waves of infection from 1346 to 1353.
Casualty patterns indicate that waves of this late-19th-century/early-20th-century pandemic may have been from two different sources. The first was primarily bubonic and was carried around the world through ocean-going trade, through transporting infected persons, rats, and cargoes harboring fleas. The second, more virulent strain, was primarily pneumonic in character with a strong person-to-person contagion. This strain was largely confined to Asia, in particular Manchuria and Mongolia.
image: Picture of Manchurian Plague victims in 1910 -1911 by Unknown - Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images»Historical photographs of China 中国摄影史图片库»The Manchurian Plague 1910-11 (2), original: „Чума въ Маньчжуріи“ въ 1910-1911 г.г.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picture_of_Manchurian_Plague_victims_in_1910_-1911.jpg#/media/File:Picture_of_Manchurian_Plague_victims_in_1910_-1911.jpg
The Plague of Justinian (541–542) was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), especially its capital Constantinople, the Sassanid Empire, and port cities around the entire Mediterranean Sea. One of the greatest plagues in history, this devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (initial outbreak) to 50 million (two centuries of recurrence) people.
Recent research has confirmed that the cause of the pandemic was Yersinia pestis, the organism responsible for bubonic plague. The plague's social and cultural impact during the period of Justinian has been compared to that of the similar Black Death that devastated Europe 600 years after the last outbreak of Justinian plague. The principal historian during the 6th century, Procopius, viewed the pandemic as worldwide in scope. Genetic studies point to China as having been the primary source of the contagion.
The plague returned periodically until the 8th century. The waves of disease had a major effect on the future course of European history. Modern historians named this plague incident after the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who was emperor at the time of the initial outbreak; he contracted the disease himself yet survived.
image: An artist's recreation of the Byzantine Empire under Justinian I - which was decimated by the plague
HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic. As of 2012, approximately 35.3 million people are living with HIV globally. Of these, approximately 17.2 million are men, 16.8 million are women and 3.4 million are less than 15 years old. There were about 1.8 million deaths from AIDS in 2010, down from 2.2 million in 2005.
A reconstruction of its genetic history shows that the HIV pandemic almost certainly originated in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, around 1920. AIDS was first recognized in 1981 and by 2009 had caused nearly 30 million deaths.
image: WHO