The world's worst natural disasters
By David McCormick, January 13, 2000
For all our technology, humanity has yet to conquer
the most powerful force on Earth - nature. Extreme
weather and natural disasters continue to strike with
little warning, wreaking havoc on the lives of millions
around the globe. Here are some the most notable
and deadly natural disasters humankind has ever
seen.
When man meets nature in force,
nature wins
Flooding in Bangladesh has killed more people
than any other natural disaster
Swirling and spiraling - the worst cyclones and hurricanes...
One of the poorest and most densely populated nations in the world, Bangladesh is
periodically pounded by vicious cyclones that sweep up the Bay of Bengal,
unleashing terrible flooding and resulting in tremendous loss of life. In 1970, a
cyclone and the resulting floods killed 500,000 people, making it the worst natural
disaster of the 20th Century. Packing winds of up to 230 km/h, the cyclone slammed
into the heavily populated coastal area, where several river deltas provide fertile land.
The strong winds produce massive waves, which deluged entire villages. Millions of
people were left homeless.
"The Great Hurricane" that hit the Caribbean in October 1780 is the most deadly
Western Hemisphere hurricane on record. It killed 22,000 people on the islands of
Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados.
The devastation left by the second-deadliest Western Hemisphere storm may still be
fresh in your mind - Hurricane Mitch laid waste to Honduras and Nicaragua in
November 1998. It's estimated Mitch killed at least 10,000 people, while leaving two
million homeless. Mudslides caused my torrential rains may have buried thousands of
more people. Months after, disease and famine were still rampant in the storm's
aftermath, as Honduras and Nicaragua struggled to pick up the pieces.
The most costly hurricane in U.S. history was Andrew. The storm ripped through
Florida and Louisiana in 1992 causing $27 billion worth of damage. It killed 58
people.
Twisting and turning - the world's worst tornadoes...
Click on the image for RealVideo of
a tornado
On March 25th, 1925, a single tornado tore through
three states in the U.S. midwest, lasting a record
three-and-a-half hours. Starting in Missouri, the
twister followed a course along a ridge through
Illinois and into Indiana. The tornado reached its peak
in Illinois, where it ravaged the town of Gorham,
killing or injuring half the residents. It then barrelled
through a number of other small towns, leaving a
total of 689 dead and 1,980 injured. It finally broke
up outside Princeton, Indiana.
The deadliest tornado in history ripped through
Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. Thirteen hundred people died and as many as 50,000
were left homeless.
The skies opened up and rivers swelled...
The worst flood in history happened in China in 1887. The Yellow River overflowed its
banks, leading to the deaths of 900,000 people.
In 1991, China suffered another massive flood. Most of the country was pelted with
exceptionally heavy rains. At one point, 40 centimetres fell in two days. Flooding was
rampant. The worst of the flooding occurred when Tai Hu, a lake at the mouth of the
Yangtze River, engulfed an important industrial and agricultural region. The
economic loss was devastating, and the human toll was costly - over 2,000 people
died. In one province, a million homes were swept away. Overall, the flood affected
the lives of 220 million people.
Hot and cold...
The deadliest drought in history occurred in China
between 1876 and 1879. Rivers dried up, crops and
livestock died. The drought led to the deaths of nine
million people.
In the midst of the Depression, the American and
Canadian midwest suffered through an eight-year
drought that ruined once-fertile soil, kicked up
tremendous dust storms and caused thousands of
deaths. The lack of rain left vast amounts of farmland
bone dry. The dry topsoil was swept up by the wind,
creating massive dark clouds of dust that turned day
into night. People died of starvation and lung diseases
In 1993, a blizzard blasted North
America, from Florida to Nova
Scotia
caused by breathing in the dust-laden air, while hordes of farmers were left bankrupt.
Three hundred and fifty thousand people fled the region, their livelihood swept away
in the worst drought in North American history.
In the early-1980s, while Westerners shopped in well-stocked grocery stores,
millions faced starvation in Africa because of severe drought. No rain fell, rivers and
lakes dried up and agriculture was impossible in twenty African nations between
1981 and 1984. The situation was particularly grim in Ethiopia, where a civil war
ravaged the country, leaving hunger-stricken civilians to fend for themselves. At the
height of the famine, it's estimated that 20,000 children were starving to death each
month. In 1984, an estimated 150 million people faced starvation. The situation was
brought to the world's attention by a BBC news crew, after which support and
donations began to roll in. Unfortunately, it was too late for the hundreds of
thousands who had already died.
Forest fires are common in southern Australia - around 15,000 burn each year. But
in 1983, the summer was particularly hot and dry. On many days, temperatures
reached 40 degrees Celsius. The brutal heat and lack of rain sparked one the worst
forest fires in recent times. The fire spread rapidly, ripping through the bush at 160
kilometres per hour, and changed direction without warning. When the fires were
finally extinguished, farmers were ruined, 8,500 people were homeless and 71
people were dead.
In 1871, after a period of drought, a massive forest fire spread over 1,036 square
kilometres of Wisconsin. Nine towns were destroyed and 1,500 people were killed.
"The Storm of the Century" that blasted the eastern United States and Canada in
1993 was unprecedented in size and scale. The collision of a huge mass of Arctic air
with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico unleashed a massive snowfall from Florida to
Nova Scotia, along with strong, bitter winds, and freezing temperatures. The blizzard
paralyzed the eastern U.S., shutting down every major airport, something that had
never happened before. The heavy snowfalls caused rooves to collapse and
powerlines to fall. The powerful winds battered the coast, sweeping some homes into
the sea. When it was finally over the storm had caused $3 billion in damage and 243
people were dead.
In December 1999, unseasonably cold, rainy weather, courtesy of La Nina, brought
Venezuela one of the worst floods South America has experienced this century. Ten
days of torrential rains triggered deadly flash floods and massive mudslides in
Venezuela's northern states, where 75 percent of the country's population live.
Thousands of homes were swept away and washed-roads hampered rescue efforts
drastically. The death toll has been estimated as high as 10,000 or more, and
150,000 are estimated to be homeless.
Earth's fury - volcanoes
On April 10, 1815, Mount Tambora on Sumbawa
Island, Indonesia erupted with massive force. Fifty
cubic kilometres of magma flew from its peak and a
blanket of ash as thick as one centimetre fell over
more than 500,000 square kilometres of Indonesia
and the Java Sea. The eruption destroyed Tambora's
peak and formed a crater six by seven kilometres
Click on the image for RealVideo of wide. The eruption and resulting tsunamis killed
a spewing volcano
10,000 people. The agricultural loss, famine and
disease brought about by the thick ash deposits
caused the deaths of 82,000 more.
Indonesia was rocked again in 1883. On August 26, Krakatoa, a small volcano on an
uninhabited island between Sumatra and Java, blew its top. The eruption produced
an ash cloud 80 kilometres high and was heard in Australia - 4,800 kilometres away.
The eruption also unleashed a tsunami, which pounded the shores of Java and
Sumatra -- 36,000 people were killed.
In 1902, St. Pierre was a thriving community and the largest town on the French
colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea. Mont Pelee cast a shadow over the town
from where it stood, eight kilometres to the north. The townspeople were used to the
small rumblings of the mountain, but in May, 1902 Pelee started to get really cranky.
Clouds of steam and ash poured from the volcano and on May 8, Pelee erupted.
Superheated gas and steaming volcanic ash spewed out, pouring down the mountain
with tremendous speed. Within seconds, the deadly gas cloud had destroyed the
town of St. Pierre and incinerated everyone in it -- except for one prisoner in a
basement cell. It was the worst volcano disaster of the 20th century.
The Earth shook beneath their feet...
The deadliest earthquake in history hit the eastern
Mediterranean in July 1201. Approximately 1.1 million
people were killed, mostly in Egypt and Syria. This
earthquake claimed the most lives of any other
natural disaster in recorded history.
The second deadliest quake struck the Chinese
province of Shansi on February 2, 1556. It killed
830,000 people.
The San Francisco earthquake of
1906 destroyed most of the city. It
is the most devestating earthquake
in American history. (Photo from
U.S. National Archives, University
of Nebraska)
The most devastating earthquake in modern times hit
northeast China in 1976. On July 28, a massive quake,
measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale, rocked the
industrial mining city of Tangshan, almost destroying
it completely. A total of 240,000 people died, while
another 164,000 were severely injured. Ninety per cent of the buildings were
destroyed. It took ten years and massive investment to rebuild the city from the
ruins.
In 1988, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale devastated Armenia,
then a republic of the Soviet Union. The town of Spitak was virtually destroyed and
all of its residents killed. In Leninakan, Armenia's second largest city, eighty per cent
of the buildings collapsed, and over 100,000 people perished.
Perhaps one of the most famous -- and deadliest -- earthquakes to strike the United
States was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Estimated at 8.3 on the Richter
scale, the earthquake sparked fires that burned uncontrollably for three days,
burning down two thirds of the city and completely wiping out the downtown
business district. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes and fled the city and
an estimated 3000 people died.