Man has tried to conquer almost everything. Be it trying to reverse ageing, control the weather or even trying to raise the dead to living. Man has tried to play God so many times and he’s succeeding. But the only thing that the man hasn’t been able to control, you ask? “Natural Disasters”. Phenomena that kill millions of people each year, cause almost irreversible damage to mother Earth and shake the entire Mankind’s existence to the core, natural disasters are impossible to control and cannot be avoided. Here, we take a look at 10 deadliest natural disasters which have etched their name in history for being the most destructive natural phenomena of all time.
1815 eruption of Mount Tambora
Mount Tambora, also called Mount Tamboro, exploded on the evening of April 10 and is known as the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It is now 2,851 metres (9,354 feet) high, having lost much of its top in the 1815 eruption. Many volcanologists regard the Mount Tambora eruption as the largest and most-destructive volcanic event in recorded history, expelling as much as 150 cubic km (roughly 36 cubic miles) of ash, pumice and other rock, and aerosols—including an estimated 60 megatons of sulphur—into the atmosphere. The immediate effects were most profound on Sumbawa and surrounding islands. Some 80,000 people perished from disease and famine, since crops could not grow. In 1816, parts of the world as far away as western Europe and eastern North America experienced sporadic periods of heavy snow and killing frost through June, July, and August. Such cold weather events led to crop failures and starvation in those regions, and the year 1816 was called the “year without a summer.” This natural disaster has been an inspiration to many Hollywood sci-fi disaster movies for many years.
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
At 7:59 AM, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores. The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours. The waves stripped vegetation from mountain sides hundreds of metres inland, capsized freighters and threw boats into trees. The estimated cost of the damage was under $10bn.
1970 Bhola cyclone
The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India’s West Bengal on November 11, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world’s deadliest natural disasters. At least 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. Bhola was the sixth and strongest cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. Cyclones like these have been a major cause of damage to different hydroelectric projects around the world.
The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado
The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado occurred in Manikganj District, Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. It was the deadliest tornado in Bangladesh’s history. There is great uncertainty about the death toll, but estimates indicate that it was devastating and that it killed approximately 1,300 people, which would make it the deadliest tornado in history. The tornado affected the cities of Daulatpur and Saturia the most, moving east through Daulatpur and eventually northeast into Saturia. Previously, the area that the tornado hit had been in a state of drought for six months.
Black Death
The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying surprise: Most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus. Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbour, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe—almost one-third of the continent’s population.
2003 European heat wave
The 2003 European heat wave led to the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540. France was hit especially hard. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000. The predominant heat was recorded in July and August, partly a result of the western European seasonal lag from the maritime influence of the Atlantic warm waters in combination with hot continental air and strong southerly winds.
1931 China floods
The 1931 China floods, or the 1931 Yangtze–Huai River floods, were a series of floods that occurred from June to August 1931 in the Republic of China, hitting major cities such as Wuhan, Nanjing and beyond, which eventually culminated into a dike breach along Lake Gaoyou on August 25, 1931. Fatality estimates vary widely. A field survey by University of Nanking led by John Lossing Buck, immediately after the flood found “150,000 people had drowned, and that this number represented less than a quarter of all fatalities during the first 100 days of the flood.”The official report found 140,000 drowned and claims that “2 million people died during the flood, having drowned or died from lack of food”.
1972 Iran blizzard
The Iran Blizzard of February 1972 was the deadliest blizzard in history. A week-long period of low temperatures and severe winter storms, lasting 3–9 February 1972, resulted in the deaths of approximately 4,000 people. Storms dumped more than 3 metres (9.8 ft) of snow across rural areas in north-western, central and southern Iran.
1786 Dadu River landslide dam
Chinese historic documents recorded that on June 1, 1786, a strong M=7.75 earthquake occurred in the Kangding-Luding area, Sichuan, southwestern China, resulting in a large landslide that fell into the Dadu River. As a result, a landslide dam blocked the river. Ten days later, the sudden breaching of the dam resulted in catastrophic downstream flooding. Historic records document over 100,000 deaths by the flood. This may be the most disastrous event ever caused by landslide dam failures in the world.
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
On January 23, 1556, an earthquake in Shaanxi, China, killed an estimated 830,000 people. Counting casualties is often imprecise after large-scale disasters, especially prior to the 20th century, but this disaster is still considered the deadliest of all time. The quake struck in late evening, with aftershocks continuing through the following morning. Later scientific investigations by skilful scientists revealed that the magnitude of the quake was approximately 8.0 to 8.3. The quake struck in the middle of a densely populated area with poorly constructed buildings and homes, resulting in a horrific death toll.
