List Of Disasters

A Disaster is a Natural or man-made event that negatively affects Life , Property , livelihood or Industry , often resulting in permanent changes to human Societies , Ecosystem s and Environment . Disasters manifest as Hazard s exacerbating Vulnerable conditions and exceeding individuals' and communities' means to survive and thrive. Most of the catastrophic disasters listed in this article have occurred at a specific non-enduring time in history rather than a longer time-period (e.g. this excludes entire long-lasting wars while including specific events during wars).

NATURAL DISASTER S

Prehistoric disasters

The Snowball Earth hypothesis.

The Toba Eruption about 75,000 years ago.

Various Extinction Event s, some of an undetermined nature.

Impact Event s.

Great Prehistoric Floods , many brought on by rising sea levels and melting glacial dams at the end of the most recent Ice Age

Classical Antiquity disasters

Thera Volcanic Eruption of 1650 - 1450 BC caused Tsunami s in the Aegean Sea , destroyed Minoan fleet, leaving Crete open to mainland invaders; probably the basis for the legend of the mythical Atlantis .

Rhodes earthquake of 226 BC destroyed the Colossus Of Rhodes

Vesuvius volcanic eruption, Italy , 79 AD buried Pompeii , Herculaneum , Stabiae .

Climatic disaster of .

Medieval disasters

November, 856 , Earthquake strikes Corinth, Greece , 45,000 people are killed.

December 22 , 856 strong Earthquake devastates Iran , 200,000 deaths.

Alexandria earthquakes of 1303 and 1323 which destroyed the Pharos Of Alexandria

Grote Mandrenke (January 1362 ) Storm Tide in Northwestern Europe claims 25,000+ victims

Renaissance and Enlightenment disasters

1667 Shemakha Earthquake ( November 25 ) 80,000 deaths

Great Storm Of 1703 ( November 24 - December 2 ) 8,000 died.

1755 Lisbon Earthquake ( November 1 st, 1755 )

Great Hurricane Of 1780 ( October 10 - October 16 , 1780 )

19th Century disasters

New Madrid Earthquake ( 1811 - 12 )

Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora , Indonesia ( 10 April , 1815 ), resulting to climate abnormalities in 1816 , known as the " Year Without A Summer ".

1839 Cyclone in India ( November 25 ) 300,000 deaths make this the 19th century´s worst disaster.

1876 Bakarganj Cyclone in India ( October 31 ) 215,000 dead, gruesome event.

Krakatoa , Indonesia , volcanic eruption, ( August 26 , 1883 )

St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado , ( May 27 , 1896 )

Galveston Hurricane Of 1900 , Galveston, Texas ( September 8 , 1900 ) death toll 6000-12000

20th Century disasters

1902 Mont Pelée Eruption, Martinique , Caribbean ( May 2 , 1902 ) 26,000 casualties.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake , San Francisco, California ( April 18 , 1906 ) 478 reported deaths but 3000 more likely

Great Lakes Storm Of 1913 , Great Lakes Basin region (November, 1913 ) 250 dead

1914 Hillcrest Mine Disaster , 189 dead.

1917 Mattoon, Illinois tornado destroys town, kills 101. ( May 26 )

Great Kantō Earthquake , Tokyo, Japan ( September 1 1923 ) 105,385 lost lives

Tri-State Tornado , Missouri , Illinois , and Indiana ( March 18 , 1925 ) 727 confirmed dead

1926 Thanksgiving Tornado Outbreak in Arkansas and Central U.S., 104 deaths. ( November 25 )

1931 Huang He Floods , China (August 1931 ) estimates between 850,000 and 4,000,000

Quetta earthquake 1935 (then in India, now in Pakistan ) killed 35,000.

Labor Day Hurricane Of 1935 , Southeastern United States (August to September 1935 ) 423 people killed

1950 Blizzard kills 323 in the Eastern U.S. ( November 25 )

North Sea Flood Of 1953 , United Kingdom and The Netherlands ( January 31 - February 1 , 1953 ) 1835 killed

Escuminac Disaster , Escuminac , New Brunswick , Canada ( June 20 , 1959 ) 95 dead

Agadir (Morocco) earthquake, February 29, 1960.

Great Chilean Earthquake , May 21 and 22 , 1960 . 3.000 deaths estimated.

North Sea Flood Of 1962 , Germany

Vajont Dam Landslide/Tsunami Disaster , Italy October 9 1963 close to 2000 perished

Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak , Midwest , United States ( April 11 , 1965 ) 271 died

Hurricane Camille , Mississippi , United States (August, 1969 ) 256

Ancash Earthquake And Landslide in north central Peru May 31 , 1970 47,194-66,000 dead

Bhola Cyclone in East Pakistan / Bangladesh , ( November 13 , 1970 ) 500,000 dead 100,000 missing

Super Outbreak , Tornado es in 13 U.S. State s ( April 3 , 1974 ) 315-330 dead

Tropical Cyclone Tracy , Darwin, Australia on Christmas Eve, 1974. 65-71

Tangshan Earthquake , China ( July 26 1976 ) 242,419 dead

USA Heat Wave Of 1980 , (June to September 1980 ) between 1250 and 10,000

Mount St. Helens , volcanic eruption May 18, 1980, killed 57

Hurricane Allen , Greater Antilles , Texas , United States (August 1980 ) 250-260 dead

1983 Tsunami strikes Japan , 104 confirmed deaths, hundreds missing. ( May 26 )

Mexico City Earthquake , Mexico ( September 19 1985 ) between 5000 and 20,000

Nevado Del Ruiz volcanic eruption, Armero , Colombia (November, 1985 ) 23,000-25,000 died.

1987 Supertyphoon Nina slams the Philippines , 1036 deaths. ( November 25 )

Hurricane Gilbert , Jamaica , Central America , Mexico (September, 1988 ) 318 dead

Spitak Earthquake , Spitak , Armenia ( December 7 , 1988 ) 25,000 lives lost

1991 Bangladesh Cyclone , Bangladesh ( April 29 , 1991 ) 138,000 died

Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption ( June 15 , 1991 ) 300 killed

Hurricane Andrew , Florida , Louisiana , United States (August, 1992 ) 26 dead

Paez River Disaster , Cauca and Huila provinces, Colombia (June 6, 1994 ) over 1,100 people were killed in an earthquake and mudslide disaster in the Paez river basin

Chicago Heat Wave Of 1995 , Chicago, Illinois 739 dead

Kobe Earthquake , Kobe , Hyogo ( January 17 , 1995 )6,433 lost lives

1996 , May 13 , Tornado in India kills over 600, hundreds more missing.

1996 , November 6 , Cyclone bashes Andhra Pradesh , India , kills more than 2000 people.

November 25 , 1996 Ice Storm kills 26, hundreds injured in the Central United States.

Hurricane Mitch , Central America (October to November, 1998 ) 18,000 people killed

Galtur Avalanche , Galtür , Austria ( February 23 , 1999 ) 31 killed

1999 Izmit, Turkey Earthquake , Kocaeli , Turkey ( August 17 , 1999 ) 17,000 dead

Chi-Chi Earthquake , Nantou , Taiwan ( September 21 , 1999 ) 2,415 dead or missing

Tropical Cyclone 05B ( 1999 ), killed around 10,000 people in the Orissa state of India

Vargas State Mudslide s, Venezuela (December 1999) 10,000 to 50,000 dead or missing

Twenty first century disasters

2001 Gujarat Earthquake , Bhuj , India ( January 26 , 2001 )

European Heat Wave Of 2003 , Europe

Bam Earthquake , Iran ( December 26 , 2003 )

Hurricane Ivan , Caribbean Sea , Southeastern United States (September, 2004 )

Hurricane Jeanne , Greater Antilles , Eastern United States (September, 2004 )

2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake And Tsunami , Indonesia ( December 26 , 2004 ) at least 200,000 killed

2005 Sumatran Earthquake , Indonesia ( March 28 , 2005 )

2005 Maharashtra Floods , Mumbai , Maharashtra , Western India (July 2005 )

Hurricane Katrina , United States (August 2005 ), estimates of deaths vary between 1,383 and 5,000

Hurricane Stan , Mexico , Central America , Guatemala , (October, 2005 )

2005 Kashmir Earthquake , Kashmir , Pakistan , ( October 8 , 2005 )

Hurricane Wilma , Caribbean Sea , Mexico , United States (October 2005 )

2006 Southern Leyte Mudslide , Philippines , ( 17 February 2006 ) c. 950 killed.

MAN-MADE DISASTERS

Air disasters

See also: List Of Accidents And Incidents On Commercial Airliners Grouped By Year

This is a list of disasters involving objects in flight or near-flight. From 1990 onward, the list is exhaustive, including all air disasters killing 20 or more people.

See also: List Of Space Disasters , Accidents And Incidents In Aviation

1900s

September 17 , 1908 -- Wright Flyer III Crash (1 killed)

1910s

August 6 , 1913 -- Curtiss Seaplane (Private) -- First fatal airplane incident in Canada (1 killed)

L-1 Airship (14 killed)

L-2 Airship (28 killed)

1920s

airship (44 killed, including one on the ground)

December 23 , 1923 -- French Zeppelin Dixmunde Airship (52 killed)

1930s

October 5 , 1930 -- R101 Air Disaster : Royal Airship Works R-101 (48 killed)

F10A Trimotor (8 killed, including Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne )

- Zeppelin Airship ZRS-4 (73 killed)

May 18 , 1935 -- Tupolev ANT-20 (aka: Maxim Gorky) (45 killed, including two on ground)

August 15 , 1935 -- Lockheed Orion 9E Explorer (2 killed, including Will Rogers & Wiley Post )

LZ 129 (36 killed, including one ground crew)

1940s

August 31 , 1940 -- Lovettsville Air Disaster -- Douglas DC-3 (25 killed)

February 15 , 1947 -- Colombia Avianca Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (53 killed)

May 29 , 1947 -- U.S. United Air Lines Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (43 killed)

May 29 , 1947 -- Japan U.S. Air Force Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (40 killed)

May 30 , 1947 -- U.S. Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (53 killed)

June 13 , 1947 -- U.S. Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (50 killed)

October 16 , 1947 -- Spain Societé Aérienne Du Littoral Bristol 170 Air Disaster (41 killed)

October 24 , 1947 -- U.S. United Air Lines Douglas DC-6 Air Disaster (52 killed)

October 26 , 1947 -- Greece AB Aerotransport Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (44 killed)

June 17 , 1948 -- U.S. United Air Lines Douglas DC-6 Air Disaster (43 killed)

August 1 , 1948 -- Atlantic Ocean Air France Latécoere 631 Air Disaster (52 killed)

October 20 , 1948 -- United Kingdom KLM Lockheed L-049 Air Disaster (40 killed)

May 4 , 1949 -- Superga Air Disaster (31 killed)

June 7 , 1949 -- Puerto Rico Strato-Freight Curtiss C-46 Air Disaster (53 killed)

July 12 , 1949 -- India KLM Lockheed L-749 Air Disaster (45 killed)

October 28 , 1949 -- Portugal Air France Lockheed L-749 Air Disaster (48 killed)

November 1 , 1949 -- U.S. Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4 Air Disaster (55 killed)

1950s

Munich Air Disaster ( February 6 , 1958 ) 24 killed

1960s

March 24 1968 - Irish national airline Aer Lingus Flight 712 , a Vickers Viscount 803 en route from Cork to London with 61 people on board, crashed in mysterious circumstances into the sea off the Tuskar Rock lighthouse, County Wexford .

Sabena Flight 548 crashed on landing approach to Brussels , Belgium , on February 15 1961 , killing all 72 persons. On board were the entire United States Figure Skating team and several family members who were en route to the 1961 World Championships in Prague , Czechoslovakia .

1970s

Staines Air Disaster ( July 18 , 1972 ) 118 killed

Sinai Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 Air Disaster ( February 21 , 1973 ) 108 killed

Ermenonville Air Disaster north of Paris ( March 3 , 1974 ) 346 killed

Seven Virgins Air Disaster Martinair DC-8 Series 55F hits mountain range in Maskeliya , Sri Lanka December 4 , 1974 , 191 killed

Zagreb Air Disaster mid-air collision between a British Airways Trident and a Inex-Adria DC-9 ( September 10 , 1976 ) 176 killed

Tenerife Disaster collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747's ( March 27 , 1977 ) 583 killed, the world's largest multiple aircraft air disaster

San Diego air disaster (September 25, 1978) collision between a Cessna and a Boeing 727, PSA flight 182, 144 killed.

Katunayake Air Disaster , Icelandair DC-8 Super 63CF ploughs into a coconut plantation in Sri Lanka , November 15 , 1978 - 184 killed,78 survivors.

American Airlines Flight 191 from O'Hare Airport Chicago, IL disaster May 25 , 1979 DC-10 crashes due to mechanical failure minutes after take-off in a field adjacent to a trailer park in Des Plaines, IL - 271 flight casualties, 2 killed on ground in trailer park Deadliest US flight disaster to date with exception of September 11th, 2001 attacks