The World's Worst Natural Disasters

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 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 Flooding in Bangladesh has killed more people km/h, the cyclone slammed into the heavily than any other natural disaster 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...

On March 25th, 1925, a single tornado tore through three states in the U.S. midwest, lasting a record

Click on the image for RealVideo of a tornado 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 1993, a blizzard blasted North In the midst of the Depression, the American and America, from Florida to Nova Canadian midwest suffered through an eight-year Scotia 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 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 The San Francisco earthquake of earthquake claimed the most lives of any other 1906 destroyed most of the city. It natural disaster in recorded history. is the most devestating earthquake in American history. (Photo from U.S. National Archives, University The second deadliest quake struck the Chinese of Nebraska) province of Shansi on February 2, 1556. It killed 830,000 people.

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.