List of the most severe natural disasters
I have compiled my own list of the various natural disasters because other lists are almost exclusively according to category such as earthquake, volcanic eruption and hurricane and are not weighted.
The increase in frequency following industrialization around 1800 and especially since 1900 is amazing and frightening, even when only the largest are taken into account.
Natural disasters by
– Year – Country – Disaster
1700 BC – Greece – Huge volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (Santorini).
(There is some controversy about whether this caused the subsequent climatic change).
464 BC – Greece – Earthquake in Messenia – Sparta destroyed, 20,000 dead
Beginning of this era
July 21, 365 – Greece – Seaquake with epicenter south of Crete triggers one of the greatest natural disaster of ancient times in the eastern Mediterranean region.
May 20, 526 – Syria – Earthquake destroys Antioch (Antakya, Syrien), killing 250,000.
1057 – China – Earthquake in Chihli (modern-day Hopek Province), 25,000 dead.
September 27, 1290 – China – Earthquake in Chihli (modern-day Hopek
Province), 100,000 dead.
December 5, 1456 – Italy – Earthquake destroys Naples, killing 30,000 – 40,000.
1500 ____________________________________________________________
January 26, 1531 – Portugal – Earthquake destroys Lisbon, killing 30,000.
January 23-24, 1556 – China – Earthquake in Shaanxi; an area between Shensi and Kansu provinces sinks, killing about 830,000.
July 30, 1649 – Japan – earthquake destroys Tokyo und Nikko, killing over 70,000.
November 1667 – Caucasus – Earthquake destroys Shamakhi, killing 80,000.
March 8-May 16, 1669 – Italy – Mount Etna erupts, destroying the city of Malpasso and six other communities.
January 9, 1693 – Italy – Earthquake on Sicily kills about 60,000.
1700 ____________________________________________________________
December 31, 1703 – Japan – Earthquake destroys
Tokyo and other cities, killing 150,000.
December 30, 1730 – Japan – Earthquake on Hokkaido kills 137,000.
October 28, 1746 – Peru – Earthquake of 8.4 magnitude in the area of Lima (Peru) kills 600,000.
November 1, 1755 – Portugal – earthquake destroys the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, killing 60,000 and triggering tsunamis in the Atlantic that cause destruction along the Algarve coast and from North Africa to the Caribbean.
October 30, 1759 – Syria – Earthquake of magnitude 7.2 kills 30,000.
February 5, 1783- Italy – Earthquake in Calabria kills about 30,000.
1783-1785 – Iceland – Twenty volcanoes erupt, including eruption in the Skaftá region, one fifth of the island’s population (over 10,000 people) die in the aftermath, as do one half of the livestock.
February 4, 1797 – Peru and Ecuador – Earthquake kills 40,000.
1800 ____________________________________________________________
April 4, 1815-July 15, 1816 – Indonesia – Tambora on Sumbawa erupts, killing 12,000; another 50,000-80,000 die in the subsequent earthquakes, tidal wave and the rain of ash. The eruption is the largest in recorded history and causes crop failures all over the world.
December 1828 – Japan – Earthquake in Nagaoka and other cities kills about 30,000.
November 11, 1855 – Japan – Earthquake destroys large parts of Tokyo, killing 106,000.
August 26-27, 1883 – Java – Krakatoa (an island volcano in the Sunda Strait) erupts, destroying two thirds of the island. The resulting tidal wave destroys the cities of Merak, Anyer and Tyaringan on the west coast of Java;
the official death toll is 36,417.
June 15, 1896 – Japan – Earthquake on the northeast coast of the island of Hondo kills 27,000.
1900 ____________________________________________________________
August 17, 1906 – Chile – Earthquake in Santiago and Valparaiso kills 20,000.
December 28, 1908 – Italy – Earthquake from Messina to Calabria kills 83,000.
December 16, 1920 – China – Earthquake of 8.6 magnitude in the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu kills 200,000.
September 1, 1922 – Japan – Earthquake in Sagami destroys Tokyo and Yokohama, killing 150,000.
September 1, 1923 – Japan – Earthquake on the Kanto Plain kills 143,000.
May 22, 1927 – China – Earthquake in Nashan kills more than 200,000.
December 26, 1932 – China – Earthquake in Kansu kills almost 70,000.
January 15, 1934 – Himalayas – Bihar-Nepal earthquake in the Himalayas, kills 10,700.
May 30, 1935 – India – Earthquake destroys Quetta and 100 other communities, killing 30,000-40,000.
December 26-27, 1939 – Turkey- Earthquake in Anatolia (Erzincan) kills 30,000.
October 5, 1948 – Turkmenistan – Earthquake of 7.3 magnitude in Ashgabat kills 110,000.
February 29, 1960 – Morocco – Earthquake of magnitude 5.7 in Agadir kills about 12,000.
May 22, 1960 – Chile – Huge earthquakes of 9.5 magnitude cause tsunamis that damage the coasts of California, Hawaii and Japan and kill 5,000.
August 15, 1968 – Indonesia – Earthquake in
Celebes/Sulawesi kills 68,200.
August 31-September 1, 1968 – Iran – Earthquake across the country’s northeast and east kills around 10,500.
May 31, 1970 – Bangladesh – Cyclones and floods kill 300,000.
May 31, 1970 – East Pakistan – Cyclones and floods kill 200,000.
February 4, 1976 – Guatemala – Earthquake of 7.5 magnitude
kills more than 23,000.
July 27-28, 1976 – China – Earthquake of 7.8 magnitude in Tangshan (150 kilometers south of Peking) kills an Incredible 650,000-800,000.
September 16, 1978 – Iran – Earthquake of 7.7 magnitude kills around 25,000.
November 13, 1985 – Colombia – Nevado del Ruiz erupts, killing 22,000.
December 12, 1988 – Armenia – Earthquake in Spitak kills 25,000.
June 20, 1990 – Iran – Earthquake of 7.7 magnitude kills 40,000-50,000.
June 12, 1991 – Philippines – The eruption of Pinatubo is the most violent of the 20th century, killing 875.
September 30, 1993 – India – Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 in western India kills more than 30,000.
January 17, 1995 – Japan – Earthquake in Kobe kills 6,000 and injures more than 400,000.
August 17, 1999 – Turkey – Earthquake of magnitude 7.4 near Izmit kills almost 18,000.
2000 ____________________________________________________________
January 26, 2001 – India – Earthquake of magnitude 7.9 in Gujarat kills around 17,000.
December 26, 2003 – Iran – Earthquake of 6.6 magnitude in Bam kills 43,000.
December 26, 2004 – Sumatra – Seaquake of magnitude 9.0 in the Indian Ocean triggers tsunamis that affect areas as distant as northeast Africa, Killing more than 232,000.
October 8, 2005 – Asia – Earthquake of magnitude 7.6 rocks southern Asia, killing more than 86,000.
May 3, 2008 – Myanmar (Burma) – Cyclone Nargis kills between 80,000 and 100,000 according to official figures.
May 12, 2008 – China – Earthquake of magnitude 7.9 kills almost 70,000 in Sichuan Province.
August 13, 2009 – Japan – Tokyo experiences yet another earthquake, this one of 6.5 magnitude.
September 30, 2009 – Pacific – After a sever seaquake (7.9 magnitude) off the coast of the Samoa islands in the Pacific, a tsunami destroys many Samoan villages.
October 1, 2009 – Indonesia – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake kills 1,100 people according to the UN estimate.
October 2, 2009 – Sumatra – Earthquake kills 777.
November 28, 2009 – Indonesia – Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 rocks the island of Sumba in the east.
December 17, 2009 – Portugal and Spain –
Earthquake of 6.3 magnitude rocks the south.
December 20, 2009, Philippines – Mayon appears ever likelier to erupt, and the alert level is raised to 4. On a single day, 222 volcanic quakes are registered.
December 20-24, 2009, Italy – The area around Mount Etna experiences an earthquake swarm.
2010 ____________________________________________________________
January 13, 2010 – Haiti – A magnitude 7 earthquake destroys almost all structures on the Haitian part of the island, killing more than 280,000.
February 27, 2010 – Chile – An earthquake of magnitude 8.8 and a subsequent tsunami and more than 70 aftershocks destroy entire coastal areas, killing almost 700.
(It also shifted the earth’s axis by 8 cm according to NASA. The planet’s position is now a little more inclined and rotation is a bit faster.)
April 4, 2010 – China – Earthquake of magnitude 7 kills 1,500 and causes enormous amounts of damage.
April 20, 2010 – Gulf of Mexico – After an explosion on a drilling platform, 780 million liters of crude oil flow into the ocean over the course of 12 weeks until the damaged drill hole is sealed on July 15. The damage is tremendous.
July 16, 2010 – China –
After the pumping out of a 300,000-ton oil tanker, two pipelines explode in Dalian, dumping 60,000-90,000 tons of crude oil into Bohai Bay according to Greenpeace.
August 1, 2010 – Russia – The country is in flames with more than 7,000 fires. Around 180,000 workers attempt to keep the blazes in check. The Taiga in eastern Siberia was ablaze, as were the rain forests on the Amur and Ussuri rivers on the Chinese border. The fires extended to central Russia and encompassed about 600,000 hectares of forest.
August 1, 2010 – Asia – Pakistan, India, China and Tibet experience a once-in-a-century flood (extraordinary monsoon caused by Tropical Storm “La Niña”). In Pakistan alone, 14 million people are forced to flee. More than 3,000 die and 30,000 soldiers are deployed.
April-August 2010 – China – Floods and mudslides kill almost 1,000, and more than eight million are forced to flee their homes. The masses of water destroy 645,000 houses and flood about seven million hectares of farmland, and in the “province” of Tibet, over 1,000 die in mudslides…
January 6, 2011 – Australia – A once-in-a-century flood affects an area the size of Germany and France combined. The metropolis of Brisbane and huge areas of the surrounding region sink beneath the floodwaters.
February 1, 2011 – Australia – Cyclone Yasi, considered the strongest on record, devastates the northeastern coast.
February 2, 2011 – U.S.A. – Blizzards cover one third of the U.S., also the largest extent on record.
March 11, 2011 – Japan – The two monumental Thoku seaquakes of magnitude 9.2 cause tsunamis of up to 30 m in height of the Sendai coast. The main Japanese island moves 2.4 meters and the Earth’s axis of rotation shifts by about 10 cm. A tsunami almost 25 m high travels for kilometers inland. The entire east coast is devastated and cities and villages destroyed. Nearly all oil, energy and industrial plants burn, creating an inferno and the atomic power plant at Fukushima melts down.
Almost 15,000 people die.
April 20, 2012 – China – Earthquake of magnitude 7 in Sichuan Province kills 1,000 and injures 10,000.
May 20, 2013 – U.S. – A tornado destroys parts of the state of Oklahoma and the city of Moore. At 1 km wide and with 300 km/h winds, it is one of the largest and fastest on record.
August 19, 2013 – China, Russia and the Philippines – All three countries suffer massive flooding.
September 15, 2013 – U.S.A. – The state of Colorado suffers massive flooding.
September 24, 2013 – Pakistan – Earthquake of magnitude 7.7 in the area of Avaran kills 500.
A new island emerged near the coast.
October 15, 2013 – Philippines – Earthquake of magnitude 7.1 kills hundreds.
October 16, 2013 – Japan – Typhoon Wipha causes mudslides and flooding. It is also one of the strongest on record.
October 20, 2013 – Australia – Ten weeks of blazes, heat waves and drought.
November 9, 2013 – Philippines – Typhoon Haiyan becomes the strongest ever to land. It kills over 10,000 in Lete alone and makes hundreds of thousands of others homeless.
November 18, 2013 – U.S.A. – Dozens of tornadoes strike the Midwest in Illinois.
February 2014 – U.S.A. – Arctic cold, temperatures of 30 to 50 degrees below zero, making it the coldest weather on record; the last comparable weather was almost 30 years previous.
February 2014 – Great Britain – Strongest precipitation in 250 years, massive flooding across the entire south.
This is just a small excerpt from the book GAIA LEGACY.
