Humanity will never forget about the accident at the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The explosion and fire happened on April 20, 2010, 80 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana, at the Macondo field. The oil spill became the largest in the history of the United States and virtually ruined the Gulf of Mexico. We recalled the largest man-made and environmental disasters in the world, some of which are almost worse than the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

15 largest man-made disasters in the world catastrophes, man-made disasters

Source: therichest.imgix.net

Could the accident have been avoided? Technogenic disasters often occur as a consequence of natural disasters, but also because of worn-out equipment, greed, negligence, inattention ... Their memory serves as an important lesson for humanity, because natural disasters can harm people, but not the planet, but technogenic pose a threat to absolutely the entire surrounding world.

Hot Steel Spill - 35 casualties

On April 18, 2007, 32 people were killed and 6 injured when a ladle containing molten steel fell at the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation plant in China. Thirty tons of liquid steel heated to 1500 degrees Celsius fell from an overhead conveyor. Liquid steel burst through the doors and windows into the adjacent room, where the shift workers were on duty.

Perhaps the most terrible fact found in the course of research into this disaster is that it could have been prevented. The immediate cause of the accident was the unlawful use of substandard equipment. The investigation concluded that there were a number of security deficiencies and breaches that contributed to the accident.

When the emergency services got to the crash site, they were stopped by the heat of molten steel, and for a long time they were unable to reach the victims. After the steel began to cool, they found 32 casualties. Surprisingly, 6 people miraculously survived this accident, and were taken to the hospital with severe burns.

Wreck of a train with oil in Lak-Megantik - 47 victims


An explosion of a train with oil occurred on the evening of July 6, 2013 in the town of Lac Megantic in Quebec, Canada. A train belonging to The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and carrying 74 crude oil tanks derailed. As a result, several tanks caught fire and exploded. It is known about 42 dead, 5 more people are missing. As a result of the fire that engulfed the city, about half of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.

In October 2012, on the GE C30-7 # 5017 diesel locomotive, epoxy materials were used during engine repairs to complete the repair as soon as possible. In subsequent operation, these materials collapsed, the locomotive began to smoke heavily. Leaking fuels and lubricants accumulated in the turbocharger housing, which led to a fire on the night of the crash.

The train was driven by the train driver Tom Harding. At 23:00 the train stopped at the Nantes station, on the main track. Tom contacted the dispatcher and reported a problem with the diesel engine, strong black exhaust; the solution of the problem with the diesel locomotive was postponed until the morning, and the driver went to spend the night at the hotel. The train with a running diesel locomotive and dangerous cargo was left overnight at an unattended station. At 11:50 pm, 911 service received a message about a fire on the lead locomotive. The compressor did not work in it, and the pressure in the brake line decreased. At 00:56, the pressure dropped to such a level that the hand brakes could not hold the cars and the uncontrolled train went downhill towards Lak-Megantik. At 00:14 the train at a speed of 105 km / h derailed and ended up in the city center. The cars derailed, explosions followed and burning oil spilled along the railroad.

People in a nearby cafe, feeling the tremors of the earth, decided that an earthquake had started and hid under the tables, as a result, they did not have time to escape from the fire ... This train disaster became one of the deadliest in Canada.

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station - at least 75 victims


The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is an industrial man-made disaster that occurred on August 17, 2009 - a "rainy day" for the Russian hydropower industry. As a result of the accident, 75 people died, the equipment and premises of the station were seriously damaged, and the production of electricity was suspended. The consequences of the accident affected the ecological situation in the water area adjacent to the hydroelectric power station, in the social and economic spheres of the region.

At the time of the accident, the hydroelectric power station was carrying a load of 4100 MW, out of 10 hydroelectric units were in operation. At 8:13 am local time on August 17, the destruction of hydroelectric unit No. 2 occurred with the flow of significant volumes of water through the mine of the hydroelectric unit under high pressure. Power plant personnel in the turbine room heard a loud bang and saw the release of a powerful column of water.

Streams of water quickly flooded the machine room and the rooms below it. All the hydroelectric units of the hydroelectric power station were flooded, while short circuits occurred on the working hydroelectric power stations (their flashes are clearly visible on the amateur video of the disaster), which put them out of action.

The non-obviousness of the causes of the accident (according to the Minister of Energy of Russia Shmatko, “this is the largest and most incomprehensible hydropower accident in the world”) has caused a number of versions that have not been confirmed (from terrorism to a water hammer). The most probable cause of the accident is the fatigue failure of the studs that occurred during the operation of the hydraulic unit No. 2 with a temporary impeller and an unacceptable vibration level in 1981-83.

Explosion on "Piper Alpha" - 167 victims


On July 6, 1988, a North Sea oil platform called Piper Alpha was destroyed by an explosion. The Piper Alpha platform, installed in 1976, was the largest structure on the Piper site, owned by Scottish Occidental Petroleum. The platform was located 200 km northeast of Aberdeen and served as the oil production control center at the site, with a helipad and accommodation for 200 oil workers working in shifts. On July 6, an unexpected explosion occurred on the Piper Alpha. The fire that engulfed the platform prevented the personnel from even sending an SOS signal.

As a result of the gas leak and the subsequent explosion, 167 people out of 226 who were at that moment on the platform died, only 59 survived. It took 3 weeks to extinguish the fire, in strong winds (80 mph) and 70-foot waves. It was not possible to establish the final cause of the explosion. According to the most popular version, a gas leak occurred on the platform, as a result of which a small spark was enough for a fire. The accident at the Piper Alpha platform led to serious criticism and subsequent revision of safety standards for oil production in the North Sea.

Tianjin Binhai fire - 170 victims


On the night of August 12, 2015, two explosions broke out at a container storage area in the port of Tianjin. At 10:50 p.m. local time, reports of a fire started at the warehouses of the Ruihai company in the port of Tianjin, which transports hazardous chemicals. As investigators later found out, it was caused by spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose, dried and heated in the summer sun. Within 30 seconds after the first explosion, a second one occurred - a container with ammonium nitrate. The local seismological service estimated the power of the first explosion at 3 tons of TNT equivalent, the second at 21 tons. The firefighters who arrived at the scene could not stop the spread of the fire for a long time. The fires raged for several days and there were 8 more explosions. The explosions created a huge crater.

The explosions resulted in the death of 173 people, 797 injured, and 8 people are reported missing. ... Thousands of Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen, Kia and Hyundai vehicles were damaged. 7,533 containers, 12,428 vehicles and 304 buildings were destroyed or damaged. In addition to death and destruction, the damage amounted to $ 9 billion. It turned out that three apartment buildings were built within a radius of one kilometer from the chemical warehouse, which is prohibited by Chinese law. Authorities have indicted 11 officials from Tianjin City in the bombing case. They are accused of negligence and abuse of authority.

Val di Stave, dam break - 268 victims


In northern Italy, over the village of Stave, the Val di Stave dam collapsed on July 19, 1985. The accident destroyed 8 bridges, 63 buildings, and killed 268 people. In the aftermath of the disaster, an investigation determined that there was poor maintenance and a low operational safety margin.

In the upper of the two dams, rainfall made the drainage pipe less efficient and clogged. Water continued to flow into the reservoir and pressure in the damaged pipe increased, and this also caused pressure on the shore rock. Water began to penetrate the soil, liquefy into mud and weaken the banks, until finally erosion occurred. In just 30 seconds, water and mud flows from the upper dam broke through and poured into the lower dam.

The collapse of a waste heap in Nambiya - 300 victims


By 1990, Nambiya, a mining community in southeastern Ecuador, had a reputation for being an aggressive environment. The local mountains were dug by miners, riddled with holes from mining, the air was humid and filled with chemicals, toxic gases from the mine and a huge waste heap.

On May 9, 1993, much of the mountain of coal slag at the end of the valley collapsed and a landslide killed about 300 people. 10,000 people lived in the village on an area of ​​about 1 square mile. Most of the city's houses were built right at the entrance to the mine tunnel. Experts have long warned that the mountain has become practically hollow. They said that further coal mining would lead to landslides, and after several days of torrential rains, the soil softened, and the worst predictions came true.

Texas explosion - 581 casualties


A man-made disaster happened on April 16, 1947 in the port of Texas City, USA. A fire aboard the French ship Grandcamp detonated about 2,100 tons of ammonium nitrate (ammonium nitrate), causing a chain reaction in the form of fires and explosions on nearby ships and oil storage facilities.

As a result of the tragedy, at least 581 people died (including all but one of the Texas City fire department), more than 5,000 people were injured, and 1,784 were hospitalized. The port and a significant part of the city were completely destroyed, many businesses were razed to the ground or burned down. More than 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars were defaced - property damage estimated at $ 100 million. These events sparked the first class action lawsuit against the US government.

The court found the Federal Government guilty of criminal negligence committed by government agencies and their agents involved in the production, packaging and labeling of ammonium nitrate, exacerbated by gross errors in its transportation, storage, handling and fire prevention measures. 1,394 compensation was paid for a total amount of about $ 17 million.

Bhopal disaster - up to 160,000 casualties


This is one of the worst man-made disasters that took place in the Indian city of Bhopal. As a result of an accident at a chemical plant owned by the American chemical company Union Carbide and producing pesticides, the toxic substance methyl isocyanate was released. It was stored at the factory in three containers partially dug into the ground, each of which could hold about 60,000 liters of liquid.

The cause of the tragedy was the emergency release of methyl isocyanate vapors, which in the factory tank heated up above the boiling point, which led to an increase in pressure and rupture of the emergency valve. As a result, on December 3, 1984, about 42 tons of toxic vapors were released into the atmosphere. A cloud of methyl isocyanate has covered the nearby slums and the train station, 2 km away.

The Bhopal disaster is the largest in terms of the number of victims in modern history, resulting in the immediate death of at least 18 thousand people, of which 3 thousand died directly on the day of the accident, and 15 thousand - in subsequent years. According to other sources, the total number of victims is estimated at 150-600 thousand people. The large number of victims is explained by the high population density, untimely informing of residents about the accident, lack of medical personnel, as well as unfavorable weather conditions - a cloud of heavy vapors was carried by the wind.

Union Carbide, responsible for the tragedy, paid the victims $ 470 million in a 1987 out-of-court settlement in exchange for a waiver. In 2010, an Indian court found seven former leaders of Union Carbide's India division guilty of fatal negligence. The convicts were sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rupees (approximately $ 2,100).

Tragedy at Banqiao Dam - 171,000 fatalities


The designers of the dam cannot even be blamed for this disaster; it was designed to withstand severe floods, but this was completely unprecedented. In August 1975, in western China, a typhoon ruptured the Banqia Dam, killing about 171,000 people. The dam was built in the 1950s to generate electricity and prevent floods. Engineers designed it with a safety margin of a thousand years.

But on those fateful days in early August 1975, Typhoon Nina immediately produced over 40 inches of rainfall, exceeding the area's annual rainfall in just one day. After several days of even heavier rains, the dam could not resist and was eroded on 8 August.

The breach of the dam caused a wave 33 feet high, 7 miles wide, traveling at a speed of 30 miles per hour. In total, over 60 dams and additional reservoirs were destroyed due to the collapse of the Banqiao Dam. The flooding destroyed 5,960,000 buildings, immediately killed 26,000 people, and another 145,000 died later as a result of hunger and epidemics due to the natural disaster.

We want to think that tragedies teach us at least something - for example, help each other in difficult situations and make joint efforts to solve problems.

But sometimes, even when the disaster is over, the tragedy continues. Humans plunge into chaos and make the worst moments of humanity's life even worse. As a result, the details of the darkest events become so gruesome that they tend to be left out in history textbooks.

1. Events in Tiananmen Square - China has issued an invoice to the families of the victims for the spent bullets

In 1989, after the death of controversial statesman and politician Hu Yaobang, Chinese students took to Tiananmen Square to try to bring about real change in China. They put forward a list of demands and went on a hunger strike in hopes of ending corruption and taking the first steps towards democracy.

However, their efforts were in vain as the army intervened. By order of the government, soldiers and tanks moved to Tiananmen Square, which is located in the heart of Beijing. In this unequal battle, at least 300 students were killed. According to some estimates, the death toll was as high as 2,700.

This is usually the end of the story, but there is one small detail that makes it even worse. After the assassination, the Chinese government billed the victims' families for the bullets spent, according to some sources. The parents of the protesting students had to pay 27 cents (in modern money) for each bullet fired at their child.

The Chinese government denied the accusations in its direction. However, there is every reason to believe that the above reports were true.

2. Massacre in Songmi - President Nixon pardoned the person responsible for the crime

The worst incident of the Vietnam War is considered to be the Song Mi massacre. In 1968, 350 South Vietnamese civilians were brutally killed by American soldiers. They raped women, maimed children - and did not receive any punishment for this.

Of all those involved in the murder, only one soldier was charged: William Colley. The court found Colley guilty of killing 22 civilians and sentenced him to life in prison. However, he never ended up in jail. He was put under house arrest, which, however, did not last long. Collie was under house arrest for only three years, and then President Richard Nixon pardoned him.

However, this story is not so simple. The man who reported the brutal murder to the American authorities and testified against the people who committed it was Hugh Thompson. He risked his own life trying to save as many Vietnamese as possible. For his courage and heroism, Thompson received death threats as a reward. Every morning, unknown people left mutilated animals on the porch of his house. For the rest of his life, Thompson struggled with PTSD.

3. Pompeii - It got so hot in a nearby city that people's heads could not stand it and literally exploded

The fall of Pompeii is one of the most notorious natural disasters in human history. The entire city was submerged in a sea of ​​volcanic ash, which claimed the lives of thousands of people.

However, in comparison with Herculaneum, Pompeii, so to speak, got off easy. A man who witnessed the volcanic eruption that occurred in 79 AD described this terrible catastrophe: "A huge black cloud descended on the land and sea, accompanied by bright flashes of flame."

This huge black cloud covered the whole of Herculaneum. It became incredibly hot on its streets - the air temperature reached more than 500 degrees Celsius. In such unbearable conditions, people's skin instantly burned, their bones turned black, and their heads could not stand it and literally exploded.

4. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Radioactive fallout has led to an increase in the incidence of cancer and the number of car accidents

On September 11, 2001, when planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, about 3,000 innocent people were killed. It was the worst terrorist attack in US history. However, over the next few years, the number of her victims increased significantly.

In the aftermath of the notorious events of September 11, 2001, people became afraid of flying, resulting in a 20 percent drop in air ticket sales. Instead, everyone has started to actively use cars, despite the fact that land transport is considered more dangerous than air. In the twelve months after the attack, about 1,600 Americans died in car accidents, just because they were afraid to fly.

But the worst of the consequences of the events of September 11, 2001 is the increase in the incidence of cancer. The Twin Towers were built from 400 tons of asbestos, which after the explosion turned into dust and spread throughout the city. According to some reports, more than 400 thousand people were affected by the asbestos cloud. As a result, cancer rates in New York City have risen significantly since the tragedy. In addition, over 70 percent of the people who helped cope with the aftermath of the explosion now suffer from lung problems.

5. Great Famine in Ireland - Queen Victoria forbade the Sultan from helping her people

When famine struck in Ireland, Majid Abdul Khan, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, volunteered to help the country. In 1847 he loaded the ships with food and offered Ireland £ 10,000 in financial aid to deal with the crisis.

Ironically, British diplomats rejected his offer. They explained this by the fact that, according to the royal protocol, the amount of foreign aid should not exceed the amount that Queen Victoria is willing to donate to save her people. At their request, the Sultan reduced his monetary donation to £ 1,000.

Be that as it may, the Irish were still delighted with his "gesture of great generosity." In gratitude, they wrote to him: "For the first time in history, a Muslim ruler representing a large Islamic population shows warm sympathy for the Christian people."

6. Black Death - Plague led to genocide of Jews

The Black Death in the middle of the XIV century ruined the lives of 75 to 200 million people, destroying about a third of the population of Europe. It was a terrible tragedy, which, oddly enough, was blamed on the Jews.

The fact is that the Europeans considered the plague to be part of a Jewish conspiracy. They argued that Jews poisoned water in wells throughout the country to make the Christian people suffer. At first it was just a theory, which later received "confirmation." The Inquisition began to hunt down Jews; they were tortured until they agreed that they were responsible for the outbreak of the plague. After that, the people rebelled. They took children from Jewish families. They tied Jews to poles and burned them alive. In one such incident, more than 2,000 people were killed.

The Black Death was certainly not part of the Jewish conspiracy, but people believed otherwise. Their revenge did not spare anyone. The city of Strasbourg even passed a law that prohibited Jews from appearing in the city for 100 years.

7. Hurricane Katrina - Refusing to Help Refugees

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, countless people were left homeless. In search of safer places, they were forced to flee to neighboring cities. The New Orleans police assisted them by pointing the way to the bridge that led to the city of Gretna.

However, on the bridge, these people encountered an obstacle in the form of four police cars, which blocked the road. Police officers stood next to them, holding shotguns. They drove the refugees away, shouting after them: "We don't need another Superdome here!" According to some reports, they even took food and water from people before chasing them away.

Arthur Lawson, Chief of Police for Gretna, confirmed the incident. "They don't belong here," he commented on his refusal to help refugees from New Orleans.

8. Wounded Knee Brook Massacre - Twenty Soldiers Awarded with Medals of Honor

In 1890, American troops attacked the Lakota camp. The attack killed about 200 innocent men, women and children. The people who did this (this event went down in history as the Wounded Knee Massacre) were the real killers. Nevertheless, twenty of them were awarded the Medals of Honor. General Miles called it "an insult to the memory of the dead," but his protest went nowhere.

During the award ceremony, Sergeant Toy was said to receive a medal "for courage in the fight against hostile Indians." In fact, he was rewarded for shooting the fleeing Native Americans in the back who were unarmed. Another soldier, Lieutenant Garlington, received a medal for preventing the escape of the victims. He forced them to hide in a ravine, where they were shot and killed by Lieutenant Gresham.

Sergeant Loyd, one of those soldiers who were awarded the Medal of Honor for the massacre of unarmed Indians, committed suicide two years later - just days before the anniversary of the Wounded Knee massacre. What prompted him to commit suicide is not known. Perhaps it was conscience.

9. Great Fire of London - The townspeople hanged a mentally retarded person

Everyone who knew Robert Hubert considered him "not a very healthy man." In all likelihood, he was a mentally retarded or insane person. He could not utter a word in English, and his limbs were paralyzed. But despite all this, he was accused of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was hanged.

Hubert was out of town when the fire struck. He appeared two days later. The man wandered the streets, incessantly repeating the word "Yes!" In 1666, it didn't take much effort to prove a person's guilt. The crowd grabbed Hubert and dragged him to the police station.

There he answered everything that was asked of him with the word “Yes!”. He even "confessed" that a Frenchman had paid him a shilling to set London on fire. Hubert agreed with every version, but he was hanged anyway.

Fifteen years later, the captain of the ship showed up and helped Hubert get to London. He told the townspeople that when the Great Fire happened, the poor fellow was not in town. But by then it was too late.

10. "Titanic" - Invoices issued to the families of the victims

The British shipping company White Star Line was very frugal. According to the contract, all the staff who were on board the ship were fired the very second the Titanic began to sink. The company did not want to pay the crew members money for not performing their immediate duties while the ship was sinking.

After the Titanic sank, the families of the victims were informed that they would have to pay the cost of the freight if they wanted to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones. Most of them could not afford it, which is why today many of those who died in the tragedy have memorials instead of graves.

For musicians, things were even worse. Members of the orchestra, who desperately continued to play even as the ship sank, were registered as independent contractors. This meant that the White Star Line was legally unrelated to them. The families of the other crew members received compensation for the loss of breadwinners, and the relatives of the perished musicians were not paid a dime. But they were billed for the "spoiled form".

You cannot live in the past, dream about the future, you need to value the present, rejoice in every day you live. The horrors that befell humanity in the twentieth century cannot be forgotten. You will find the most tragic events, shocking lessons of fate in our review.

Water disasters

The death of thousands of people in the water is caused by various reasons: the human factor, design errors, military operations, natural disasters. Consider the most ambitious in terms of the number of victims of the tragedy that occurred in the last century on the water:

1. "Goya". 7,000 people perished on a military ship confiscated by the Germans after they occupied Norwegian territories during the Great Patriotic War. On April 16, 1945, a torpedo was directed at a powerful ship from a Russian submarine, as a result of which the Goya sank in the Baltic Sea.

2. "Wilhelm Gustloff". The German ship is named after a Nazi party leader. At the time of construction, it was considered the largest ship in the world. Before the war, it was used as a means of recreation. The ship sank on January 30, 1945. The reason is the attack by the Soviet military from a submarine. The exact composition of the passengers is unknown, but according to the official version, 5,348 people died. There were women and children on board.


3. Mont Blanc. On December 6, 1917, a French military ship exploded in a Canadian harbor and collided with the ship Imo (Norway). As a result of the fire, few survived. The mortality rate is 2,000 people (1,950 people were identified), and the reason is a banal human factor. Apart from the pre-nuclear era, this explosion was the most powerful in the history of mankind. About the terrible tragedy, you can watch a film filmed in Canada in 2003 - "City of Destruction".


4. "Bismarck". The German battleship was sunk by British aircraft on June 12, 1944 during the war. The number of victims was 1,995.



The sinking of the Titanic

At the time of commissioning, the ship was considered the largest on earth. The giant ship sank on its first cruise on April 15, 1912, colliding with an iceberg.

Horror and death in the air

In the middle of the twentieth century, air travel became widespread. The active development of passenger aviation has led to an excess of the death of people in the sky in comparison with the "water" mortality. Here is a list of "bright" tragedies that claimed the lives of many innocent people:

1. Collision in Tenerife. The disaster took place on March 27, 1977. The place of the event is the Canary Islands (Tenerife). The fatal "meeting" of the two liners caused the death of 583 people. 61 people managed to escape the tragedy. For the period of the twentieth century, this plane crash is the largest in terms of the number of civil aviation.


2. The disaster near Tokyo. On August 12, 1985, a Japanese airliner, 12 minutes after its takeoff, lost control, having lost its vertical stabilizer. For 32 minutes, the crew fought to save the plane in the air, but the collision with Mount Otsutaka affected the destructive outcome of events. 520 people died, but only 4 survived. The catastrophe is called the largest in the history of "one plane".


3. Charkhi Dadri (city in India). The plane crash occurred as a result of a collision of the flagship and Kazakhstani airliners at an altitude of 4,109 meters. All passengers were killed, including the crew of both aircraft (349 people in total).


4. Air crash near Paris. On March 3, 1974, a wide-body airliner built by a Turkish company killed 346 people. A few minutes after takeoff, the cargo compartment door suddenly opened.


Explosive compression destroyed all control systems. The plane was picketing and crashed into the forest. Investigations have indicated that the locking mechanism in the compartment is not perfect. Since then, many airlines have redesigned their aircraft to avoid catastrophic repetitions.


5. Terrorist attack near Cork. India's flagship carrier was the victim of a brutal terrorist attack on its way to London. Literally a few minutes before arrival, an explosion occurred on board the aircraft and all those in it were killed (329 people). This is the largest terrorist attack in the history of Canada.

Tragedies on earth

Some of the tragedies that happened on earth in the last century still cause concern and apprehension, continuing to destroy the health and lives of ordinary people, namely:

1. Bhopal disaster. The man-made tragedy is the largest in history. An accident occurred at a chemical plant in India (1984). Killed 18,000 people. 3,000 of those killed became victims of instant death, and the rest died in the months and years after the tragedy. It was not possible to establish the cause of the terrible event.


2. ChNPP. On April 26, 1986, there was a major fatal accident, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Ukraine). The release of a huge amount of radioactive substances into the air caused the death of hundreds of people, and not immediately, but gradually.


3. Piper Alpha. At the oil station in 1988, 167 people (staff members) died, 59 people were lucky, they managed to survive. This disaster is the largest in the oil industry.


In addition to man-made tragedies in the twentieth century, there were many other shocking events - a war, the total number of millions of victims of which can no longer be counted: World War I (1914-1818), Civil War in Russia (1917-1923), World War II (1939 -1945), Korean War (1950-1053).

Natural disasters

1. Cyclone "Bhola". The disaster happened in 1970. The tropical element swept across several territories of Pakistan and Bengal, wiping out cities and small villages. The researchers were unable to find out the exact number of citizens who died (approximately 5,000,000 people).


2. Valdiv earthquake (1960 - Chile). The resulting tsunami did not save many innocent residents. The number of victims has reached several thousand people. In addition to death, a natural phenomenon caused impressive damage to the affected areas (estimated cost - $ 500 million).


3. Megatsunami in Alaska (1958). Earthquake, landslides, the collapse of stones and ice into the water, the world's highest tsunami. The element has casualties in the amount of 5,000,000 people.


Tsunami in Alaska

17.04.2013

Natural disasters unpredictable, destructive, they cannot be stopped. Perhaps that is why humanity is most afraid of them. We offer you the top rating in history, they took a huge number of lives.

10. The collapse of the Banqiao Dam, 1975

The dam was built to contain the effects of about 12 inches of rainfall daily. However, in August 1975, it became clear that this was not enough. As a result of the collision of the cyclones, Typhoon Nina brought heavy rainfall of –7.46 inches per hour, which means 41.7 inches daily. In addition, due to clogging, the dam could no longer fulfill its role. In a few days, 15.738 billion tons of water burst through it, which rolled in a deadly wave over the surrounding area. More than 231,000 people died.

9. Earthquake in Haiyan, China, 1920

As a result of the earthquake, which is on the 9th line in the top ranking deadliest natural disasters in history, 7 provinces in China were affected. In the Hainyan region alone, 73,000 people have died, with more than 200,000 deaths nationwide. The tremors continued for the next three years. It caused landslides and large ground cracks. The earthquake turned out to be so strong that some rivers changed course, in some natural dams appeared.

8. Tangshan Earthquake, 1976

It happened on July 28, 1976 and is called the strongest earthquake of the 20th century. The epicenter was the city of Tangshan, located in the Hebei province, China. Almost nothing was left of a densely populated, large industrial city in 10 seconds. The number of victims is about 220,000.

7. Earthquake Antakya (Antioch), 565

Despite the small number of details that have survived to this day, the earthquake has become one of the most destructive and claimed more than 250,000 lives and caused enormous damage to the economy.

6. Indian Ocean earthquake / tsunami, 2004


It happened on December 24, 2004, just in time for Christmas. The epicenter was near the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand have suffered the most. The second earthquake in the history of magnitude 9.1 -9.3. it has caused a number of other earthquakes around the globe, for example in Alaska. It also caused a deadly tsunami. More than 225,000 people died.

5. Indian cyclone, 1839

In 1839, an extremely large cyclone came to India. On November 25, a storm practically destroyed the city of Koringa. He literally destroyed everything he came into contact with. 2,000 ships docked in the port were demolished. The city has not been rebuilt. The storm surges it attracted killed over 300,000 people.

4. Cyclone Bol, 1970

After the Cyclone Bola walked through the lands of Pakistan, more than half of the arable land was polluted and damaged, a small part of rice and grain was saved, but famine was already inevitable. In addition, about 500,000 people died from the heavy rains and floods that it caused. Wind force - 115 meters per hour, hurricane - category 3.

3. Shaanxi earthquake, 1556

The most destructive earthquake in history happened on February 14, 1556 in China. Its epicenter was in the valley of the Wei River and as a result, about 97 provinces were affected. Buildings were destroyed, half of the people living in them were killed. According to some reports, 60% of the population of Huascian province died. A total of 830,000 people died. The tremors continued for another six months.

2. Flood of the Yellow River, 1887

The Yellow River in China is extremely prone to flooding and overflow. In 1887, this resulted in the flooding of 50,000 square miles around. According to some reports, the flood claimed the lives of 900,000 - 2,000,000 people. Farmers, knowing the characteristics of the river, built dams that saved them from the annual floods, but that year, the water blew away both the farmers and their homes.

1. Flood of Central China, 1931

According to statistics, the flood that occurred in 1931 became the most terrible in history... After a long drought, 7 cyclones came to China at once, which brought hundreds of liters of rain with them. As a result, three rivers overflowed their banks. The flood killed 4 million people.

The volcano that destroyed ancient Pompeii cannot be responsible for the saddest natural disaster in history, despite the fact that many films have been made and many songs have been sung on the topic. Modern natural disasters claim countless human casualties. Take a look at our gloomy 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 rifts in the Dead Sea region. Now there is a relatively stable tectonic relief. Syria experienced unprecedented cataclysms in the 12th century. Seismic activity in the north of the country lasted for almost a year and ultimately resulted in a destructive cataclysm. In 1138, the city of Aleppo was destroyed to the ground, other settlements and military facilities 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 have seen. This tragedy is considered the deadliest in modern history. It all started with a magnitude 9.3 underwater earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. Then the element was transformed into a brutal tsunami that rushed to the shores of 11 countries. A total of 225,000 people died, and about a million more inhabitants of the Indian Ocean coast were left homeless. It is sad that this happened during the heyday of the development of earthquake-resistant architectural technologies, and not in the days of dugouts with thatched roofs.

Earthquake in Antioch (526)

People love to compare the potential end of the world with biblical catastrophes. 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 from the birth of Christ. The Byzantine city in the period from 20 to 29 May 526 survived an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 points. Due to the high population density (which was rare in 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 China's Gansu province (1920)

The next natural disaster on our list was a giant rift more than 160 kilometers long. According to experts, the greatest damage was caused not by the earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, but by landslides that carried entire cities underground and were the main reason for 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 so terrible as the imperfection of the infrastructure of the area in which it occurs. A 7.8-magnitude tremor hit Chinese Tangshan on the night of July 28 and instantly razed 92 percent of residential buildings in this millionth city to the ground. Lack of food, water and other resources have become major obstacles to rescue efforts. In addition, railroad tracks and bridges were destroyed, so there was nowhere to wait for help. Many victims died under the rubble.

Cyclone in Coringa, India (1839)

By the early 19th century, Koringa 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 resigned. The attacked cyclone destroyed 20,000 ships and 300,000 people. Many victims were thrown into the open sea. Now on the site of Koringa there is a small village.

Cyclone Bhola, Bangladesh (1970)

Natural disasters occur regularly in the Bay of Bengal, but none have been more devastating than Cyclone Bhola. Gusts of hurricane winds 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 killed more than half a million lives.

China earthquake (1556)

Despite the fact that in the 16th century a system for assessing the magnitude of tremors was not yet introduced, historians have calculated that the earthquake that occurred in China in 1556 could have a magnitude of 8.0 - 8.5. It so happened that the main blow was taken by a densely populated area. The natural disaster created deep canyons that swallowed more than 800,000 people forever.

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 happened with the onset of torrential rains and flooding on the Yangtze River in April 1931. This natural disaster, combined with dysentery and other illnesses, has killed nearly three million lives. In addition, the destruction of rice fields caused widespread famine.