The volcano that destroyed ancient Pompeii cannot be responsible for the worst natural disaster in history, despite the fact that many films have been made and many songs have been sung on the subject. Modern natural disasters claim countless lives. Take a look at our grim list. It contains only the most terrible disasters of all time.

Earthquake in the Syrian city of Aleppo (1138)

Fortunately, these days the news reports do not shock us with giant faults in the Dead Sea area. Now there is a relatively stable tectonic relief. Syria experienced unprecedented cataclysms in the 12th century. Seismic activity in the north of the country continued for almost a year and ultimately resulted in a devastating cataclysm. In 1138, the city of Aleppo was completely destroyed, other settlements and military installations were damaged. In total, the disaster took the lives of 230,000 people.

Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (2004)

This is the only event on the list that many of us caught. This tragedy is considered the deadliest in modern history. It all started with an underwater earthquake of magnitude 9.3 off the coast of Indonesia. Then the disaster transformed into a violent tsunami, rushing to the shores of 11 countries. In total, 225,000 people died, and about a million more people along the Indian Ocean coast were left homeless. It's sad that this happened during the heyday of earthquake-resistant architectural technology, and not in the days of dugouts with thatched roofs.

Antioch earthquake (526)

People like to compare the potential end of the world to disasters of biblical proportions. The earthquake in Antioch is the only natural disaster that is more or less close to the biblical era. This natural disaster occurred in the first millennium after the birth of Christ. The Byzantine city experienced an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 between May 20 and May 29, 526. Due to the high population density (which was rare for the region at the time), 250,000 people died. The fires that arose as a result of the cataclysm also contributed to the increase in the number of victims.

Earthquake in Gansu Province of China (1920)

The next natural disaster on our list created a giant rift over 160 kilometers long. According to experts, the greatest damage was caused not by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, but by landslides, which carried away entire cities underground and were the main reason slowing down the provision of assistance. According to various estimates, the cataclysm claimed the lives of 230,000 to 273,000 inhabitants.

Tangshan Earthquake (1976)

Another terrible earthquake of the 20th century shows that the natural disaster itself is not as terrible as the imperfect infrastructure of the area in which it occurs. Tremors with a magnitude of 7.8 hit China's Tangshan on the night of July 28 and instantly leveled 92 percent of residential buildings in this million-strong city. Lack of food, water and other resources became the main obstacles in rescue efforts. In addition, railway tracks and bridges were destroyed, so there was nowhere to wait for help. Many victims died under the rubble.

Cyclone at Coringa, India (1839)

By the early 19th century, Coringa had become the main Indian port city at the mouth of the Godavari River. On the night of November 25, 1839, this title had to be relinquished. The cyclone that struck destroyed 20,000 ships and 300,000 people. Many victims were thrown into the open sea. Now there is a small village on the site of Coringa.

Cyclone Bhola, Bangladesh (1970)

The Bay of Bengal regularly experiences natural disasters, but none was more devastating than Cyclone Bhola. Hurricane wind gusts on November 11, 1970 reached 225 kilometers per hour. Due to extreme poverty in the region, no one was able to warn the population of the impending danger. As a result, the cyclone destroyed more than half a million lives.

Chinese earthquake (1556)

Despite the fact that in the 16th century a system for assessing the magnitude of tremors had not yet been introduced, historians have calculated that the earthquake that occurred in China in 1556 could have had a magnitude of 8.0 - 8.5. It so happened that the densely populated area took the brunt of the attack. The disaster created deep canyons that forever trapped more than 800,000 people.

Flood on the Yellow River (1887)

One of the largest rivers in the world is responsible for more deaths than all other rivers combined. In 1887, the deadliest flood was recorded, which was exacerbated by heavy rains and the destruction of dams in the Changshu area. The flooded low-lying plains claimed the lives of about two million Chinese.

Flood on the Yangtze River (1931)

A record natural disaster occurred with the onset of heavy rains and flooding on the Yangtze River in April 1931. This natural disaster, coupled with dysentery and other diseases, claimed about three million lives. In addition, the destruction of rice fields caused widespread famine.

It is terrible to realize how much evil man has done to himself and the planet on which he lives. Most of the harm was caused by large industrial corporations that do not think about the level of danger of their activities in an effort to make a profit. What’s especially scary is that disasters also occurred as a result of testing various types of weapons, including nuclear ones. We offer 15 of the world's biggest human-caused disasters.

15. Castle Bravo (March 1, 1954)

The United States test-detonated a nuclear weapon in Bikini Atoll, near the Marshall Islands, in March 1954. It was a thousand times more powerful than the explosion in Hiroshima, Japan. This was part of a US government experiment. The damage caused by the explosion was catastrophic for the environment over an area of ​​11265.41 km2. 655 fauna representatives were destroyed.

14. Disaster in Seveso (July 10, 1976)

An industrial disaster near Milan, Italy resulted from the release of toxic chemicals into the environment. During the production cycle of trichlorophenol, a dangerous cloud of harmful compounds was released into the atmosphere. The release instantly had a detrimental effect on the flora and fauna of the area adjacent to the plant. The company hid the fact of a chemical leak for 10 days. The incidence of cancer increased, which was later confirmed by studies of dead animals. Residents of the small town of Seveso began to experience frequent cases of heart pathologies and respiratory diseases.

The meltdown of part of a nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, USA, released an unknown amount of radioactive gases and iodine into the environment. The accident occurred due to a series of personnel errors and mechanical problems. There was a lot of debate about the scale of pollution, but official bodies withheld specific figures so as not to cause panic. They argued that the release was insignificant and could not harm flora and fauna. However, in 1997, the data was re-examined and it was concluded that those who lived near the reactor were 10 times more likely to develop cancer and leukemia than others.

12. Exxon Valdez oil spill (March 24, 1989)

As a result of the accident on the Exxon Valdez tanker, a huge amount of oil entered the ocean in the Alaska region, which led to the pollution of 2092.15 km of coastline. As a result, irreparable damage was caused to the ecosystem. And to date it has not been restored. In 2010, the US government stated that 32 species of wildlife had been damaged and only 13 had been recovered. They were unable to restore the subspecies of killer whales and Pacific herring.

The explosion and flooding of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico at the Macondo field resulted in a leak of 4.9 million barrels of oil and gas. According to scientists, this accident was the largest in US history and claimed 11 lives of platform workers. The ocean inhabitants were also harmed. Violations of the bay's ecosystem are still observed.

10. Disaster Love Channel (1978)

In Niagara Falls, New York, about a hundred homes and a local school were built on the site of an industrial and chemical waste dump. Over time, the chemicals seeped into the topsoil and water. People began to notice that some black swampy spots were appearing near their houses. When the analysis was done, they found the content of eighty-two chemical compounds, eleven of which were carcinogenic substances. Among the diseases of the Love Canal residents, such serious diseases as leukemia began to appear, and 98 families had children with serious pathologies.

9. Chemical Contamination of Anniston, Alabama (1929-1971)

In Anniston, in the area where agricultural and biotech giant Monsanto first produced cancer-causing substances, they were inexplicably released into Snow Creek. The population of Anniston suffered greatly. As a result of exposure, the percentage of diabetes and other pathologies increased. In 2002, Monsanto paid $700 million in compensation for damage and rescue efforts.

During the Gulf War in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein set fire to 600 oil wells to create a toxic smokescreen for 10 months. It is believed that between 600 and 800 tons of oil were burned daily. About five percent of Kuwait's territory was covered in soot, livestock was dying of lung disease, and the country suffered an increase in cancer cases.

7. Explosion at the Jilin Chemical Plant (November 13, 2005)

Several powerful explosions occurred at the Zilin Chemical Plant. A huge amount of benzene and nitrobenzene, which has a detrimental toxic effect, was released into the environment. The disaster resulted in the death of six people and the injury of seventy.

6. Times Beach, Missouri Pollution (December 1982)

The spraying of oil containing toxic dioxin led to the complete destruction of a small town in Missouri. The method was used as an alternative to irrigation to remove dust from roads. Things got worse when the city was flooded by the Meremek River, causing toxic oil to spread along the entire coastline. Residents were exposed to dioxin and reported immune and muscle problems.

For five days, smoke from coal burning and factory emissions covered London in a dense layer. The fact is that cold weather set in and residents started burning coal stoves en masse to warm their houses. The combination of industrial and public emissions into the atmosphere resulted in thick fog and poor visibility, and 12,000 people died from inhaling toxic fumes.

4. Minamata Bay Poisoning, Japan (1950s)

Over 37 years of producing plastics, the petrochemical company Chisso Corporation dumped 27 tons of metal mercury into the waters of Minamata Bay. Because residents used it for fishing without knowing about the release of chemicals, the mercury-poisoned fish caused serious damage to the health of babies born to mothers who ate Minamata fish and killed more than 900 people in the region.

3. Bhopal Disaster (December 2, 1984)

The whole world knows about radiation contamination as a result of a nuclear reactor accident and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It has been called the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. About a million people died due to the consequences of the nuclear disaster, mainly from cancer and due to exposure to high levels of radiation.

After the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was left without power and unable to cool its nuclear fuel reactors. This led to radioactive contamination of a large area and water area. About two hundred thousand residents were evacuated due to fears of serious illnesses as a result of exposure. The disaster once again forced scientists to think about the dangers of atomic energy and the need to develop

The worship of the four natural elements can be traced in many philosophical and religious movements. Of course, modern people think this is funny. He, like the hero of Turgenev's novel, Evgeny Bazarov, considers nature not a temple, but rather a workshop. However, nature often reminds us of its omnipotence by throwing natural disasters at people. And then there is nothing left but to pray to the elements for mercy. Throughout its history, no matter what natural disasters have interfered with the life of mankind.

The epicenter was in Shaanxi province. Today it is difficult to say what its magnitude was, but some scientists, based on geological data, call it 8 points. But the point is not so much in its power as in the number of victims - 830 thousand people. This number of victims is the highest among all earthquake cases.

2.2 billion cubic meters - such is the scale, or rather the volume, of the landslide; all this loose material slid from the slopes of the Muzkol ridge (height - 5 thousand m above sea level). The village of Usoy was completely overwhelmed, the flow of the Mugrab River stopped, a new lake Sarez appeared, which, growing, flooded several more villages.

Element water

The most destructive flood also occurred in China. The season was rainy, resulting in flooding of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. In total, about 40 million people were affected, and 4 million people died. In some places, the water receded only after six months.

Although why look for natural disasters in Asian countries, when in 1824 a devastating flood occurred in. And today on the walls of some old houses you can see memorial markers that demonstrate the water level on the streets at that time. Fortunately, the death toll did not reach a thousand, but no one knows the exact number of victims; many are missing.

This year saw one of the worst tsunamis in Europe. It affected many coastal countries, but Portugal suffered the greatest damage. The capital Lisbon was practically wiped off the face of the earth. Over 100 thousand people died, cultural and historical monuments disappeared, for example, paintings by Rubens and Caravaggio.

Element air

Hurricane San Calixto II, which raged for a week in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, claimed over 27 thousand innocent lives. There is no exact data on its strength or trajectory; it is likely that its speed exceeded 320 km/h.

This powerful hurricane originated in the Atlantic basin, its maximum speed reached 285 km/h. 11 thousand people died and approximately the same number disappeared without a trace.

8.

You and I became witnesses to this event. News footage showed the devastation of the hurricane, which killed 1,836 people and caused $125 billion in damage.

Element fire

That hot summer in Greece there were 3 thousand fires. Territories with a total area of ​​2.7 thousand square meters were affected. km. These were agricultural lands, forests, olive groves. The fires claimed 79 lives.

Speaking of fire, how can we not mention fiery eruptions. The powerful eruption of Krakatoa that year destroyed the island itself, killing 2 thousand people. The explosion of the volcano caused a tsunami that hit neighboring islands, killing another 36 thousand people.

Throughout history, humanity has faced terrible disasters that have claimed countless lives. Below is a list of ten of the strangest and most unusual of them.

Elephant panic in Chandaka forest

In the spring of 1972, the Chandaka region in India was gripped by a terrible drought due to abnormal heat. Local elephants, which usually did not cause problems, were literally going crazy from the high temperatures and lack of water. Residents told authorities that they were afraid to go out into the fields because of the strange behavior of the “giants of the savannah.” Later the situation worsened. On July 10, the elephants, succumbing to an inexplicable panic, took flight and actually completely destroyed 5 villages. 24 people died.

In September 1971, about 90,000 tons of grain arrived at the Iraqi port of Basra. It was American barley and Mexican wheat treated with methyl mercury to slow down rotting. The grain was dyed bright pink and all the bags had a warning message printed on them, but only in English and Spanish. Before the bags were distributed to farmers, they were stolen from the docks and sold to the starving population.

The Iraqi government, fearing outrage over their criminal negligence, covered up the story. Nothing was known about it for almost two years, until an American correspondent found evidence of 6,530 incidents of mercury poisoning. Officials admitted to only 459 deaths, but the real number of victims was about 6,000. In addition, another 10,000 suffered side effects such as blindness, deafness and brain damage.

On April 15, 1947, a French freighter arrived in Texas. On board there were about 1,400 tons of fertilizer, ammonium nitrate. That same night, a fire broke out on the ship. By dawn, local authorities were significantly concerned about the plumes of black smoke emanating from the ship, as the city's chemical plant was located only 300 meters from the fire. Tugboats were prepared to push the cargo out to sea. However, suddenly a huge column of fire enveloped the ship. For many, this was the last thing they saw. The wall of flame spread to the chemical plant, causing an explosion. Much of the business district was wiped off the face of the earth. The fire raged along the shoreline, where there were huge tanks of butane. After midnight, a new chain reaction of explosions began. The disaster killed more than 500 people and seriously injured about 1,000.

On June 30, 1098, a huge explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia. The mid-air explosion was most likely caused by a meteorite or comet fragment with a radius of 20 meters. The energy of the explosion was about 10–20 megatons of TNT, which is 1,000 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Tunguska explosion destroyed approximately 80 million trees, covering more than 2,150 square kilometers. The destructive effects of the meteorite are still visible from satellites.

Empire State Building disaster

On Saturday, July 28, 1945, the Army veteran took off in a US Air Force B-25 Mitchell bomber from Massachusetts to New Jersey with a co-pilot and a young sailor on board. Due to fog, visibility was poor. An hour later, people on the streets of Manhattan heard the deafening roar of an engine and saw a bomber wandering among the skyscrapers. Some time later, he crashed into the Empire State Building. The wreckage of the plane fell to the ground. One of the engines blew a hole on the 78th floor, passing through seven walls and exiting on the opposite side of the building. The second engine hit the elevator shaft and fell into the basement. When the plane's fuel tank exploded, the fire engulfed 6 floors. Fortunately, not all offices were open on Saturday; only 11 people and three plane passengers died.

Year after year, firefighters in Gillingham, Kent, England, construct a house of sorts out of wood and canvas for an annual popular fire-fighting demonstration. Every year, several boys are selected to take part in the demonstration. On July 11, 1929, 9 boys, aged 10 to 14, and 6 firefighters, dressed as members of a wedding party, went up to the third floor of the “house.” According to the plan, firefighters would light a smoke bomb on the ground floor, rescue the “celebrants” using ropes and ladders, and then set the empty house on fire, demonstrating the fire hoses in action. However, by mistake, a real fire was lit first. The spectators, who mistook the real burning bodies for mannequins, cheered and applauded, unaware of the real fire. All 15 demonstrators died that day.

A huge cylindrical gasometer, the largest in the world at that time, located in the heart of the industrial center of Pittsburgh, was leaking. On the morning of November 14, 1927, repairmen began searching for a hole using a blowtorch with an open flame. At approximately 10 a.m., they discovered the leak. As a result, the tank containing about 5 million cubic feet of natural gas rose into the air like a balloon and exploded. Huge pieces of metal flew over a distance of about a kilometer, and the combined effects of air pressure and fire destroyed everything within a square mile. Then 28 people died, hundreds were injured, damage was estimated at $4 million.

On January 15, 1919, workers and residents of Boston were outside enjoying a surprisingly warm day. Suddenly, with a low boom, the cast iron tank of the Purity Distilling Company exploded and a huge wave (2.5 to 4.5 m high) of raw black molasses hit the city. Neither pedestrians nor cars could overcome this stream, which swept through the streets at a speed of about 60 km/h. The 8,700 m³ of molasses intended for rum consumed many people: 21 people died from suffocation, unable to escape from the viscous substance, and another 150 were hospitalized. In addition, the wave destroyed several buildings and an elevated railway. For another week the smell of molasses lingered in Boston, and the port remained brown until the summer.

Panic at the Baptist Church

Three thousand people, mostly black, gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 19, 1902, to hear an address by Booker Taliapher Washington. The brick church building was erected quite recently. A steep flight of stairs, lined with brick, led from the front doors to the liturgy section. After Washington's speech, a squabble began over empty seats, and the word "fight" was mistaken for the word "fire." All the parishioners began a panicked flight to the stairs. Those who reached it first began to be pushed from behind, and they began to fall. Others fell right on top of them until the screaming bodies formed a pile 4 meters high, completely barricading the passage.

Attempts by Washington and church officials to call the people to calm were of no avail; they could only watch helplessly as their brothers and sisters either suffocated or were trampled to death. In reality, there was no fire or even a fight, however, 115 people died.

Snake invasion in Saint-Pierre

Volcanic activity at Mount Pelee, in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was usually so insignificant that no one noticed the smoking vents and tremors in April 1902. Soon (in early May) a continuous rain of ash began, and the acrid smell of sulfur appeared in the air. As a result, more than a hundred pit vipers crawled out of their shelters on the mountainside, as they became uninhabitable, and then infested one of the quarters of Saint-Pierre, inhabited by mulattoes. The venomous snakes, up to two meters long, killed 50 people and countless animals before being wiped out by the city's stray cats. But that was only the beginning.

On May 5, a huge landslide of boiling mud flowed into the sea, causing a tsunami that killed several hundred people. And, to top off all the misfortunes, three days later, on May 8, a volcanic eruption occurred, as a result of which a huge amount of hot lava headed straight into the city. In just three minutes, the city was completely wiped off the face of the Earth. Almost the entire 30,000 population of Saint-Pierre died, only two survived.

Share on social media networks

Disasters have been known for a long time - volcanic eruptions, powerful earthquakes, and tornadoes. In the last century there have been many water disasters and terrible nuclear disasters.

The worst disasters on the water

Man has been sailing on sailboats, boats, and ships across the vast oceans and seas for hundreds of years. During this time, a huge number of disasters, shipwrecks and accidents occurred.

In 1915, a British passenger liner was torpedoed by a German submarine. The ship sank in eighteen minutes, being thirteen kilometers from the coast of Ireland. One thousand one hundred and ninety-eight people died.

In April 1944, a terrible disaster occurred in the port of Bombay. It all started with the fact that during the unloading of a single-screw steamer, which was loaded with gross violations of safety regulations, a violent explosion occurred. It is known that the ship carried one and a half tons of explosives, several tons of cotton, sulfur, wood, and gold bars. After the first explosion, a second one sounded. The burning cotton scattered over a radius of almost a kilometer. Almost all the ships and warehouses burned, and fires started in the city. They were extinguished only after two weeks. As a result, about two and a half thousand people were hospitalized, one thousand three hundred and seventy-six people died. The port was restored only after seven months.

The most famous water disaster is the sinking of the Titanic. Colliding with an iceberg during its first voyage, the ship sank. More than one and a half thousand people died.

In December 1917, the French warship Mont Blanc collided with the Norwegian ship Imo near the city of Halifax. A powerful explosion occurred, leading to the destruction of not only the port, but also part of the city. The fact is that Mont Blanc was loaded exclusively with explosives. About two thousand people died, nine thousand were injured. This is the most powerful explosion of the pre-nuclear era.

Three thousand one hundred and thirty people died on the French cruiser after a torpedo attack by a German submarine in 1916. As a result of the torpedoing of the German floating hospital "General Steuben", about three thousand six hundred and eight people died.

In December 1987, the Philippine passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with the tanker Vector. Four thousand three hundred and seventy-five people died.

In May 1945, a tragedy occurred in the Baltic Sea, which claimed the lives of about eight thousand people. The cargo ship Tilbeck and the liner Cap Arcona came under fire from British aircraft. As a result of the torpedoing of the Goya by a Soviet submarine in the spring of 1945, six thousand nine hundred people died.

“Wilhelm Gustlow” was the name of the German passenger liner sunk by a submarine under the command of Marinesko in January 1945. The exact number of victims is unknown, approximately nine thousand people.

The worst disasters in Russia

We can name several terrible disasters that occurred on Russian territory. Thus, in June 1989, one of the largest train accidents in Russia occurred near Ufa. A huge explosion occurred while two passenger trains were passing by. An unlimited cloud of fuel-air mixture exploded, which was formed due to an accident on a nearby pipeline. According to some sources, five hundred and seventy-five people died, according to others, six hundred and forty-five. Another six hundred people were wounded.

The death of the Aral Sea is considered the worst environmental disaster on the territory of the former USSR. For a number of reasons: soil, social, biological, the Aral Sea has almost completely dried up in fifty years. Most of its tributaries were used for irrigation and some other agricultural purposes in the sixties. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. Since the influx of fresh water was significantly reduced, the lake gradually died.

In the summer of 2012, a massive flood occurred in the Krasnodar region. It is considered the largest disaster on Russian territory. In two July days, five months' worth of precipitation fell. The city of Krymsk was almost completely washed away by water. Officially, 179 people were declared dead, of which 159 were residents of Krymsk. More than 34 thousand local residents were affected.

The worst nuclear disasters

Huge numbers of people are exposed to nuclear disasters. So in April 1986, one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive substances released into the atmosphere settled on nearby villages and towns. This accident is one of the most destructive of its kind. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the liquidation of the accident. Several hundred people were killed or injured. A thirty-kilometer exclusion zone has been formed around the nuclear power plant. The scale of the disaster is still unclear.

In Japan, in March 2011, an explosion occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant during an earthquake. Because of this, a large amount of radioactive substances entered the atmosphere. At first, officials hushed up the scale of the disaster.

After the Chernobyl disaster, the most significant nuclear accident is considered to be the one that occurred in 1999 in the Japanese city of Tokaimura. An accident occurred at a uranium processing plant. Six hundred people were exposed to radiation, four people died.

The worst disaster in human history

The explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is considered the most disastrous disaster for the biosphere in the entire existence of mankind. The platform itself went under water after the explosion. As a result, a huge volume of petroleum products ended up in the world's oceans. The spill lasted one hundred and fifty-two days. The oil film covered an area equal to seventy-five thousand square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico.

In terms of the number of victims, the disaster that occurred in India in the city of Bhapole in December 1984 is considered the largest. There was a chemical leak at one of the factories. Eighteen thousand people died. Until now, the causes of this disaster have not been fully elucidated.

It is impossible not to mention the worst fire that occurred in London in 1666. The fire spread across the city with lightning speed, destroying about seventy thousand houses and killing about eighty thousand people. The fire lasted for four days.

Not only disasters are terrible, but also entertainment. The website has a rating of the scariest attractions in the world.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen