Natural disaster

A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g. flood, tornado, volcano eruption,
earthquake, or landslide) that affects the environment, and leads to financial, environmental
and/or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support
or resist the disaster, and their resilience. This understanding is concentrated in the
formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability. A natural hazard will hence
never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in
uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events
simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement.

Contents
Natural disasters

o Land movement disasters

Avalanches
Earthquakes
Lahars
Volcanic eruptions
o Water disasters
Floods
Limnic eruptions
Tsunami
o Weather disasters
Blizzards
Cyclonic storms
Droughts
Hailstorms
Heat waves
Tornadoes
o Fire
o Health and diseases
Epidemic
Famine
o Space
Gamma ray bursts
Impact events
Solar flares
Supernovae and hypernovae
Natural disasters
Land movement disasters

Avalanches:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Timpavalanche.jpg

Avalanche on the backside (East) of Mt. Timpanogos, Utah at Aspen Grove trail

Notable avalanches include:

The 1910 Wellington avalanche

The 1954 Blons avalanches
The 1970 Ancash earthquake
The 1999 Galtr Avalanche
The 2002 Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide

Earthquakes

An Earthquake is a sudden shake of the Earth's crust.The vibrations may vary in magnitude.
The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the "focus". The point directly
above the focus on the surface is called the"epicenter". Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill
people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building
collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are actually the human
disaster. As many of these could be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early
warning and evacuation planning, .

Earthquakes are caused by the discharge of accumulated along geologic faults.

Lahars

A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a
lahar, as was the 1985 Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an
estimated 23,000 people were killed

Volcanic eruptions

An Eruption may in itself be a disaster due to the explosion of the volcano or the fall
of rock but there are several effects that may happen after an eruption that are also
hazardous to human life.
Lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano a material consisting of
superheated rock. There are several different forms which may be either crumbly or
gluey. Leaving the volcano this destroys any buildings and plants it encounters.
Volcanic ash - generally meaning the cooled ash - may form a cloud, and settle
thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete like
 material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but
even small quantities will cause ill health if inhaled. Since the ash has the consistency
of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines.
Supervolcanoes : According to the Toba catastrophe theory 70 to 75 thousand years
ago a super volcanic event at Lake Toba reduced the human population to 10,000 or
even 1,000 breeding pairs creating a bottleneck in human evolution. It also killed
three quarters of all plant life in the northern hemisphere. The main danger from a
supervolcano is the immense cloud of ash which has a disastrous global effect on
climate and temperature for many years.
Pyroclastic flows consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air
above under its own weight and streams very rapidly from the mountain burning
anything in its path. It is believed that Pompeii was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow.

Water disasters

Floods:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limpopo.jpg

Some of the most notable floods include:

The Huang He (Yellow River) in China floods particularly often. The Great Flood of
1931 caused between 800,000 and 4,000,000 deaths.
The Great Flood of 1993 was one of the most costly floods in United States history.
The 1998 Yangtze River Floods, also in China, left 14 million people homeless.
The 2000 Mozambique flood covered much of the country for three weeks, resulting
in thousands of deaths, and leaving the country devastated for years afterward.

Tropical cyclones can result in extensive flooding and storm surge, as happened with:

Bhola Cyclone, striking East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1970,

Typhoon Nina, striking China in 1975,
Tropical Storm Allison, which struck Houston, Texas in 2001 and
Hurricane Katrina, which left most of New Orleans under water in 2005. Much of the
flooding was due to the failure of the city's levee system.

Limnic eruptions

A limnic eruption occurs when CO2 suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat
of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in
the lake as the rising CO2 displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or
explosions can trigger such an eruption.Till date, only two limnic eruptions have been
observed and recorded:

In 1984, in Cameroon, a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37

nearby residents
 At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800
people by asphyxiation.

Tsunami:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2004-tsunami.jpg

Tsunamis can be caused by undersea earthquakes as the one caused in Ao Nang, Thailand by
the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, or by landslides such as the one which occurred at Lituya
Bay, Alaska.

Ao Nang, Thailand (2004). The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake created the Boxing
Day Tsunami and disaster at this site.
Lituya Bay, Alaska (1953). A mega-tsunami occurred here, the largest ever recorded.

(This also fits within the "Land movement disaster" category because it started with an
earthquake.)

Weather disasters

Blizzards

Significant blizzards in the United States include:

The Great Blizzard of 1888

The Schoolhouse Blizzard earlier the same year
The Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940
The Storm of the Century in 1993

Cyclonic storms

Tropical cyclone and cyclone

Cyclone, tropical cyclone, hurricane, and typhoon are different names for the same
phenomenon a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. The deadliest hurricane
ever was the 1970 Bhola cyclone the deadliest Atlantic hurricane was the Great Hurricane of
1780 which devastated Martinique St. Eustatius and Barbados. Another notable hurricane is
Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.

Droughts

Well-known historical droughts include:

1900 India killing between 250,000 and 3.25 million.

 1921-22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to
drought
1928-30 northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine.
1936 and 1941 Sichuan Province China resulting in 5 million and 2.5 million deaths
respectively.
As of 2006, states of Australia including Western Australia, New South Wales,
Victoria and Queensland had been under drought conditions for five to ten years. The
drought is beginning to affect urban area populations for the first time.
In 2006 Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in modern times with
nearly 8 million people and over 7 million cattle facing water shortages.

Hailstorms

Hailstorms (AKA hailstones) are rain drops that have formed together into ice. A particularly
damaging hailstorm hit Munich, Germany on August 31, 1986, felling thousands of trees and
causing millions of dollars in insurance claims.

Heat waves

A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia caused the massive bushfires in 2009. Melbourne
experienced 3 days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40C.

Tornadoes

Different Types of Tornadoes

Supercell Tornadoes

Some of the most violent tornadoes develop from supercell thunderstorms. A supercell
thunderstorm is a long-lived thunderstorm possessing within its structure a continuously
rotating updraft of air. These storms have the greatest tendency to produce tornadoes, some
of the huge wedge shape. The supercell thunderstorm has a low-hanging, rotating layer of
cloud known as a "wall cloud." It looks somewhat like a layer of a layer cake that hangs
below the broader cloud base. One side of the wall cloud is often rain-free, while the other is
neighbored by dense shafts of rain. The rotating updraft of the supercell is seen on radar as a
"mesocyclone."

The tornadoes that accompany supercell thunderstorms are more likely to remain in contact
with the ground for long periods of timean hour or morethan other tornadoes, and are
more likely to be violent, with winds exceeding 200 mph.

Landspout

Generally weaker than a supercell tornado, a landspout is not associated with a wall cloud or
mesocyclone. It may be observed beneath cumulonimbus or towering cumulus clouds and is
the land equivalent of a waterspout. It often forms along the leading edge of rain-cooled
downdraft air emanating from a thunderstorm, known as a "gust front."
Gustnado

Weak and usually short-lived, a gustnado forms along the gust front of a thunderstorm,
appearing as a temporary dust whirl or debris cloud. There may be no apparent connection to
or circulation in the cloud aloft. These appear like dust devils.

Waterspout

A waterspout is a tornado over water. A few form from supercell thunderstorms, but many
form from weak thunderstorms or rapidly growing cumulus clouds. Waterspouts are usually
less intense and causes far less damage. Rarely more than fifty yards wide, it forms over
warm tropical ocean waters, although its funnel is made of freshwater droplets condensed
from water vapor from condensation - not saltwater from the ocean. Waterspouts usually
dissipate upon reaching land.

The following are tornado-like circulations

Dust Devils

Dry, hot, clear days on the desert or over dry land can bring about dust devils. Generally
forming in the hot sun during the late morning or early afternoon hours, these mostly
harmless whirlwinds are triggered by light desert breezes that create a swirling plume of dust
with speeds rarely over 70 mph. These differ from tornadoes in that they are not associated
with a thunderstorm (or any cloud), and are usually weaker than the weakest tornado.

Typically, the life cycle of a dust devil is a few minutes or less, although they can last much
longer. Although usually harmless, they have been known to cause minor damage. They can
blow vehicles off the road and could damage your eyes by blowing dust into them.

Firewhirls

Sometimes the intense heat created by a major forest fire or volcanic eruption can create
what is known as a firewhirl, a tornado-like rotating column of smoke and/or fire. This
happens when the fire updraft concentrates some initial weak whirl or eddy in the wind.
Winds associated with firewhirls have been estimated at over 100 mph. They are sometimes
called fire tornadoes, fire devils, or even firenadoes.[4]

Fire

Wildfires are an uncontrolled fire burning in wildland areas. Common causes include
lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They
can be a threat to those in rural areas and also wildlife.
A notable case of wildfire was the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia.

Health and diseases

Epidemic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Colorized_transmission_electron_micrograph_of_Avian_inf
luenza_A_H5N1_viruses.jpg
The A H5N1 virus, which causes Avian influenza

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads at a rapid rate through a

human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been
many epidemics throughout history, such as Black Death. In the last hundred years,
significant pandemics include:

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide
The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people
The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemic
The 2002-3 SARS pandemic
The AIDS epidemic, beginning in 1959
The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-?

Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health
emergencies by the WHO include:

XDR TB, a strain of tuberculosis that is extensively resistant to drug treatments

Malaria, which kills an estimated 1.5 million people each year
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which has claimed hundreds of victims in Africa in several
outbreaks

Famine

Main article: List of famines

In modern times, famine has hit Sub-Saharan Africa the hardest, although the number of
victims of modern famines is much smaller than the number of people killed by the Asian
famines of the 20th century.

Solar flares

A solar flare is a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar
radiation, much more than normal. Some known solar flares include:

An X20 event on August 16, 1989

A similar flare on April 2, 2001
 The most powerful flare ever recorded, on November 4, 2003, estimated at between
X40 and X45
The most powerful flare in the past 500 years is believed to have occurred in
September 1859

Future of natural disasters

The United Kingdom based charity Oxfam publicly stated that the number of people hit by
climate-related disasters is expected to rise by about 50%, to reach 375 million a year by
2015.

Ten deadliest natural disasters

Death Toll
Rank Event Location Date
(Estimate)
July, November, 1,000,000
1. 1931 China floods China
1931 4,000,000*[1]
1887 Yellow River September,
2. China 900,0002,000,000[2]
flood October, 1887
1556 Shaanxi Shaanxi
3. January 23, 1556 830,000[3]
earthquake Province, China
East Pakistan,
November 13,
4. 1970 Bhola cyclone Pakistan (now 500,000[1]
1970
Bangladesh)
November 25,
5. 1839 India Cyclone India 300,000[citation needed]
1839
Antioch,
526 Antioch Byzantine
6. May 526 250,000-300,000
earthquake Empire (now
Turkey)
1976 Tangshan Tangshan, Hebei,
7. July 28, 1976 242,419[1]
earthquake China
Haiyuan,
1920 Haiyuan December 16,
8. Ningxia-Gansu, 234,117[1]
earthquake 1920
China
Port-au-Prince,
9. 2010 Haiti earthquake January 12, 2010 233,000[4]
Haiti
2004 Indian ocean December 26,
10. Indonesia 230,210
earthquake 2004

* Estimate by Nova's sources are close to 4 million and yet Encarta's sources report as few as
1 million. Expert estimates report wide variance.
An alternative listing is given by Hough in his 2008 book Global Security.

Lists of natural disasters

Blizzards

Death Toll
Rank Event Location Date
(Estimate)
1. Iran Blizzard Iran 1972 4,000
2008 Afghanistan
2. Afghanistan 2008 926
blizzard
Great Blizzard of
3. United States 1888 400
1888
1993 North American
4. United States 1993 318
Storm Complex
5. Schoolhouse Blizzard United States 1888 235
Hakko-da Mountains
6. Japan 1902 199
incident
Armistice Day
7. United States 1940 144
Blizzard
2008 Chinese winter
8. China 2008 133
storms
9. 1995 Kazakh Blizzard Kazakhstan 1995 112
10. Blizzard of 1978 United States 1978 54

Contractible diseases

Pandemics killing at least 1,000,000 people:

Death Toll
Rank Event Location Date
(Estimate)
Bubonic Plague: Asia, Europe,
1. 100,000,000 approx. 1300s1720s
Black Death Africa
50,000,000
2. Spanish Flu Worldwide 19181919[6]
100,000,000
Bubonic Plague: Asia, Europe, 40,000,000-
3. 540590
Plague of Justinian Africa 100,000,000
Bubonic Plague:
4. Worldwide 12,000,000 ? 1850s1950s
Third Pandemic
5. Antonine Plague Roman Empire 5,000,000 165180
6. Asian Flu pandemic Worldwide 4,000,000 1956-1958

Other deadly communicable diseases. Death counts are historical totals unless indicated
otherwise.

Rank Disease Death Toll (Estimate) Notes

1900 to eradication.[7]
1. Smallpox 300,000,000 approx. Declared eradicated
May 8, 1980.[8]
2. Measles 200,000,000 ? last 150 years[9]
3. Malaria 80,000,000-250,000,000 20th century present
20th century
4. Tuberculosis 40,000,000100,000,000
present[9]
1981present (As of
5. AIDS pandemic 25,250,000
2010).
6. Seasonal influenza at least 250,000 annually As of April 2009[10]

Cyclones

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

Bangladesh
1. 500,000 1970 Bhola cyclone 1970
(East Pakistan)
2. 300,000 1839 Indian cyclone India 1839
3. 300,000[11] 1737 Calcutta cyclone India 1737
Super Typhoon Ninacontributed
4. 210,000 China 1975
to Banqiao Dam failure
present day
5. 200,000[12] Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 1876
Bangladesh
6. ~146,000 Cyclone Nargis Myanmar 2008
7. 138,866 1991 Bangladesh cyclone Bangladesh 1991
8. 100,000 1882 Bombay cyclone Bombay, India 1882
9. 60,000 1922 Swatow Typhoon China 1922
10 60,000 1864 Calcutta Cyclone India 1864
Earthquakes

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

1556 Shaanxi
1. 830,000 China January 23, 1556
earthquake
1976 Tangshan
2. 255,000 China July 28, 1976
earthquake
526 Antioch Antioch, Byzantine
3. 250,000 May 526
earthquake Empire (now Turkey)
1920 Haiyuan
4. 234,117 China December 16, 1920
earthquake
5. 233,000 2010 Haiti earthquake Haiti January 12, 2010
2004 Indian Ocean
6. 230,210 Indonesia December 26, 2004
earthquake
1138 Aleppo
7. 230,000 Syria October 11, 1138
earthquake
856 Damghan
8. 200,000 Iran December 22, 856
earthquake
893 Ardabil
9. 150,000 Iran March 23, 893
earthquake
1923 Great Kanto
10. 142,000 Japan September 1, 1923
earthquake
1730 Hokkaido
11. 137,000 Japan 1730
earthquake
Turkmen SSR, Soviet
1948 Ashgabat
12. 110,000 Union (now October 5, 1948
earthquake
Turkmenistan)
1290 Chihli
13. 100,000 China 1290
earthquake
1755 Lisbon
14. 100,000 Portugal November 1, 1755
earthquake
1908 Messina
15. 100,000 Italy December 28, 1908
earthquake
1970 Ancash
16. 100,000 Peru May 31, 1970
earthquake
1667 Shamakhi
17. 80,000 Azerbaijan 1667
earthquake
 2005 Kashmir
18. 79,000 Pakistan October 8, 2005
earthquake
1727 Tabriz
19. 77,000 Iran 1727
earthquake
1932 Changma
20. 70,000 Gansu, China 1932
earthquake
68,712
2008 Sichuan
21. (18,392 China May 12, 2008
earthquake
missing)
Armenian Kingdom
1268 Cilicia
22. 60,000 of Cilicia (now 1268
earthquake
Turkey)
1693 Sicily
23. 60,000 Italy January 11, 1693
earthquake
1935 Balochistan
24. 60,000 British India May 31, 1935
earthquake
1783 Calabrian
25. 50,000 Italy 1783
earthquakes
1990 Manjil-Rudbar
26. 50,000 Iran June 21, 1990
earthquake
1498 Nankaido
27. 40,000 Japan September 20, 1498
earthquake
1797 Quito
28. 40,000 Ecuador 1797
earthquake
1927 Gulang
29. 40,000 Gansu, China 1927
earthquake
1939 Erzincan
30. 32,962 Turkey December 26, 1939
earthquake
1939 Chilln
31. 30,000 Chile January 24, 1939
earthquake
1949 Khait
32. 28,000 Tajikistan July 10, 1949
earthquake
33. 26,271 2003 Bam earthquake Iran December 26, 2003
1988 Spitak
34. 25,000 Armenia December 7, 1988
earthquake
1293 Kamakura
35. 23,700 Japan 1293
earthquake
1976 Guatemala
36. 23,000 Guatemala February 4, 1976
earthquake
1896 Meiji-Sanriku
37. 22,066 Japan June 15, 1896
earthquake
 1812 Caracas
38. 20,000 Venezuela March 26, 1812
earthquake
1905 Kangra
39. 20,000 British India April 4, 1905
earthquake
2001 Gujarat
40. 19,727 India January 26, 2001
earthquake
1999 zmit
41. 17,217 Turkey August 17, 1999
earthquake
1970 Tonghai
42. 15,621 China January 4, 1970
earthquake
1960 Agadir
43. 15,000 Morocco February 26, 1960
earthquake
1978 Tabas
44. 15,000 Iran September 16, 1978
earthquake
1962 Bou'in-Zahra
45. 12,225 Iran September 1, 1962
earthquake
1968 Dasht-e Bayaz
46. 12,000 and Ferdows Iran 1968
earthquake
1934 Bihar
47. 10,500 British India January 15, 1934
earthquake
1985 Mexico City
48. 10,153 Mexico September 19, 1985
earthquake
1509 Istanbul Istanbul, Ottoman
49. 10,000 September 10, 1509
earthquake Empire (now Turkey)
1703 Apennine
50. 10,000 Italy 1703
earthquakes
1703 Genroku
51. 10,000 Japan December 31, 1703
earthquake
1854 Ansei-Nankai
52. 10,000 Japan December 24, 1854
earthquake
1944 San Juan
53. 10,000[13] Argentina January 15, 1944
earthquake
1933 Diexi
54. 9,000 China August 25, 1933
earthquake
1966 Xingtai
55. 8,064 China March 8, 1966
earthquake
1993 Latur
56. 7,928 India September 30, 1993
earthquake
1891 Mino-Owari
57. 7,273 Japan October 28, 1891
earthquake
 1995 Great Hanshin
58. 6,433 Japan January 17, 1995
earthquake
1861 Mendoza
59. 6,000[13] Argentina March 20, 1861
earthquake
1960 Valdivia
60. 6,000 Chile May 22, 1960
earthquake
1974 Hunza
61. 5,300 Pakistan December 28, 1974
earthquake
62. 5,000 1707 Hei earthquake Japan October 28, 1707
1972 Nicaragua
63. 5,000 Nicaragua December 23, 1972
earthquake
1945 Balochistan
64. 4,000 British India November 28, 1945
earthquake
1929 Koppeh Dagh
65. 3,800 Iran January 5, 1929
earthquake
1948 Fukui
66. 3,769 Japan June 28, 1948
earthquake
1906 San Francisco
67. 3,000 United States April 18, 1906
earthquake
1933 Sanriku
68. 3,000 Japan March 2, 1933
earthquake

Famines

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

15,000,000
1. Great Chinese Famine China 19581961
43,000,000
Chinese Famine of 1907 China 1907
2. 19,000,000 Indian Famine British India 18961902
Bengal famine of 1770,
3. 15,000,000 India 17691771
incl. Bihar & Orissa
4. 13,000,000 Northern Chinese Famine China 18761879
Southern and Central
5. 10,000,000 India 18761879
Indian Famine
6. 7,500,000 Great European Famine Europe (all) 13151317
7. 5,000,000 Chinese Famine of 1936 China 1936
Soviet famine of 1932
8. 5,000,000 Soviet Union 19321934
1933 (Holodomor)
9. 5,000,000 Russian famine of 1921 Russia, Ukraine 19211922
10. 3,000,000 Chinese Drought 1941 China 1941
 Chinese Famine of 1928
11. 3,000,000 China 19281930
1930
Russian famine of 1601
12. 2,000,000 Russia (Muscovy) 16011603
1603
13. 2,000,000 Vietnamese War Famine Vietnam 19431945
1,500,000
14. Bengal Famine of 1943 India 1943
4,000,000
1,000,000-
15. Great Irish Famine Ireland 18461849
1,500,000
16. 1,200,000 North Korean famine North Korea 19961998
19841985 famine in
17. 1,000,000 Ethiopia 1984
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, Sudan,
18. 1,000,000 Horn of Africa famine 1888
Somalia
Bangladesh famine of
1974Official records
19. 26,000-1,000,000 claim 26,000. However, Bangladesh 1974
various sources claim
about 1,000,000.
Finnish famine of 1866
20. 150,000 Finland 18661868
1868
21. 18,000 Dutch famine of 1944 The Netherlands 1944

Floods and landslides

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

2,500,000
1. 1931 China floods China 1931
3,700,000[14]
900,000 1887 Yellow River (Huang He)
2. China 1887
2,000,000 flood
1938 Yellow River (Huang He)
3. 500,000700,000 China 1938
flood
Banqiao Dam failure, result of
Typhoon Nina. Approximately
4. 231,000 86,000 people died from flooding China 1975
and another 145,000 died during
subsequent disease.
5. 145,000 1935 Yangtze river flood China 1935
more than
6. St. Felix's Flood, storm surge Netherlands 1530
100,000
7. 100,000 Hanoi and Red River Delta flood North Vietnam 1971
8. 100,000 1911 Yangtze river flood China 1911
9. 50,00080,000 St. Lucia's flood, storm surge Netherlands 1287
10. 60,000 North Sea flood, storm surge Netherlands 1212

Limnic eruptions

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

1. 1,746 Lake Nyos Cameroon 1986

2. 37 Lake Monoun Cameroon 1984

Storms (non-cyclone)

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

1. 15,100 Torrential rains and mudslides Venezuela 1999

2. 500 Lofoten, Heavy storm Norway 1849

United States
and Canada
3. 250 Great Lakes Storm of 1913 1913
(Great Lakes
region)
4. 242 1996 Amarnath Yatra tragedy India 1996

5. 210 Trndelag, storm ("Follastormen") Norway 1625

Eyemouth, Scotland, storm ("Black
6. 189 United Kingdom 1881
Friday")
7. 140 Trndelag, storm ("Titran disaster") Norway 1899

8. 96 Lofoten, storm Norway 1868

9. 46 Columbus Day Storm United States 1962

Haugesund, storm ("Rvr

10. 30 Norway 1899
disaster")
Tornadoes

Death
Rank Event Location Date
Toll

The Saturia-Manikganj Sadar Manikganj, April 26,

1. 1,300
Tornado Bangladesh 1989

East Pakistan,
2. 923 1969 East Pakistan Tornado Pakistan (now 1969
Bangladesh)
United States
March 18,
3. 695 The Tri-State Tornado (Missouri
1925
IllinoisIndiana)

4. 681 1973 Dhaka Tornado Bangladesh 1973

5. 600 The Malta Tornado Malta 1551

Sicily, Two
6. 500 The Sicily Tornado Sicilies (now 1851
Italy)
Jessore, East
Pakistan,
7 500 The Narail-Magura Tornadoes 1964
Pakistan (now
Bangladesh)
8 500 The Comoro Tornado Comoro 1951

9. 440 The Tangail Tornado Bangladesh 1996

Soviet Union
10. 400 Ivanovo, Yaroslavl Tornado 1984
(now Russia)
Tsunami

Death
Rank Event Location Date
Toll

1. 295,600 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Indonesia 2004

Portugal, Spain,
1755 Lisbon Morocco, Ireland, and
2. 100,000 1755
earthquake/tsunami/fire the United Kingdom
(Cornwall)

1908 Messina
3. 100,000 Messina, Italy 1908
earthquake/tsunami

Caused by 1883 eruption of

4. 36,000 Indonesia 1883
Krakatoa

1868 Arica
5. 25,674 Arica, Chile 1868
earthquake/tsunami

1896 Meiji-Sanriku
6. 22,070 Sanriku, Japan 1896
earthquake

1792 Mount Unzen eruption

7. 15,030 Kysh, Japan 1792
in southwest Kysh
Volcanic eruptions

Death
Rank Event Location Date
Toll

Mount Tambora (see also

1. 92,000 Indonesia 1815
Year Without a Summer)

August 2627,
2. 36,000 Krakatoa Indonesia
1883

May 7 or May 8,
3. 29,000 Mount Pele Martinique
1902

Pompeii and August 24, 79

4. 25,000 Mount Vesuvius
Herculaneum, Italy AD

November 13,
5. 23,000 Nevado del Ruiz Colombia
1985

6. 15,000 Mount Unzen Japan 1792

7. 10,000 Mount Kelut Indonesia 1586

Laki. Killed about 25% of the

population (33% were killed
8. 9,350 Iceland June 8, 1783
about 70 years before by
smallpox)

9. 6,000 Santa Maria Guatemala 1902

10. 5,115 Mount Kelut Indonesia May 19, 1919

A supervolcanic eruption at Lake Toba around 74,000 years ago could have wiped
out as much as 99% of the global human population, reducing the population from a possible
60 million to less than 10 thousand; see Toba catastrophe theory. However, this theory is not
widely accepted because the evidence is disputed, and there have been, for instance, no
remains found. The eruption is not listed here as it was pre-historic and outside the scope of
this article. Also, the Thera eruption in the Aegean Sea between 1550 and 1650 BC may have
caused a large number of deaths throughout the region, from Crete to Egypt. See also La
Garita Caldera, Yellowstone Caldera, and Supervolcanoes.
Wildfires and bushfires

Rank Death Toll Event Location Date

1. 1,2002,500 Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin United States 1871
2. 1,200 Kursha-2, Ryazan Oblast, RSFSR Soviet Union 1936
3. 453 Cloquet Fire, Minnesota United States 1918
4. 418 Great Hinckley Fire, Minnesota United States 1894
5. 282 Thumb Fire, Michigan United States 1881
6. 240 Sumatra, Kalimantan Indonesia 1997
7. 273 Matheson Fire, Ontario Canada 1916
8. 230 Landes region France 1949
9. 213 Greater Hinggan, Heilongjiang China 1987
10. 173 Black Saturday bushfires Australia 2009
11. 160 Miramichi Fire, New Brunswick Canada 1825

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