- If you're having a bad day just keep watching this video
cause trust me, it could be worse.
So from a survival standpoint,
our planet can be a pretty scary place.
Aside from all of the death and destruction
that we ourselves as the human race cause,
planet Earth has been known to cause just as much
devastation herself.
From viruses, to tsunamis, and earthquakes
this space rock that we live on can be a real jerk
when it feels like showing off.
So this week I collected a list of some of the most
destructive natural events ever recorded that are
pretty much guaranteed to make you feel better about
your day so here they are.
The 10 deadliest natural disasters in history.
Number one is Black Death.
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics
in human history resulting in the deaths of
an estimated 75 to 200 million people,
peaking in Europe between 1346 and 1353.
The plague hit Europe like a freight train killing
an estimated 25 to 60% of the entire continents population.
The name Black Death reflects a common attribute
of the disease which would cause the flesh of those infected
to die and rot into an ashen black color.
So as you can see, it's lovely.
The Black Death was also known as the Great Morality,
or the Great Pestilence.
It was the second plague pandemic of the middle ages,
the first being the Justinian Plague of the 6th century
which was equally as unpleasant.
Scientist still do not know what the cause of the outbreak
was as there as several competing theories that exist today.
However, an analysis of DNA from victims in
Northern and Southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011
indicates that the pathogen responsible was the
Yersinia pestis bacterium causing several forms
of the plague.
Wait, we have no idea exactly where it came from?
Okay.
Well between that, Netflix,
and the ability to order groceries online,
I now have every reason to never leave my house.
Great!
Number two is the Spanish Flu.
Between 1918 and 1920,
an unusually deadly influenza pandemic occurred
that infected 500 million people across the world
and killed 50 to 100 million of them.
Around 4% of the entire world's population.
To maintain moral during the war,
the governments of Germany, Britain, France,
and the United States censored the virus' effects
but talked much about its effect on Spain
hence the nickname of the Spanish Flu.
Unlike most influenza outbreaks that would often take
the lives of the juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients,
the Spanish Flu would easily kill young and healthy adults.
The virus died as quickly as it grew as it's speculated
that the virus had mutated so rapidly that it mutated
into a less lethal strain.
This was first of two pandemics involving the
H1N1 influenza virus.
That's right.
This was the same virus that rocked the world
not long ago back in 2009.
I really don't understand how a virus can reemerge like this
after over 100 years.
How does that happen?
What, did someone cough on an ice cube and leave it
in the freezer for future generations?
Oh, grandpa left me an ice cube in the freezer everyone!
I chilled my drink with it!
(sips)
Uh, oh.
Number three is the Afghanistan Blizzard.
You might think of Afghanistan as a smoldering hot country
full of desert but surprisingly it can get cold.
Really cold.
In February of 2008,
Afghanistan suffered the second worst blizzard in modern
history with regards to casualties.
The blizzard caused temperatures to fall below
30 degrees Celsius and up to 1.8 meters of snow fell.
This resulted in total casualties of over 1 thousand people
freezing to death.
In addition, at least 100 people were stricken with
frost bite and had to get amputations.
What's equally as sad is animals were the most vulnerable
to the blizzard as more than 100,000 sheep and goats,
and 315,000 cattle died.
It's important to keep in mind that this was all at a time
when the country was already ravaged by on going wars
which further devastated the country and its economy.
This is really sad and almost hard to understand
because as a kid growing up in Canada,
the worse the weather the better because we got snow days.
There was never any horrible pain and suffering.
Well, y'know that wasn't 'till we had to go back to school.
Number four are the Central China Floods.
In 1931 the Republic of China was hit by a series of floods
that resulted in arguably the deadliest natural disaster
of the 20th century discounting pandemics and famines.
The flood occurred after a series of odd weather occurrences
in China.
From 1928 to 1930,
there was a long drought followed by heavy snow storms,
then a spring thaw and a heavy rainfall
that continuously grew.
Then in 1931, the Yangtze River overflowed
and caused a series of floods causing millions of deaths
due to drowning, disease, and starvation.
More than 51 million people,
or 1/4 of China's entire population,
was effected by the Central China Floods with the total
number of casualties from the disaster estimated
to be as high as 4 million.
Exacerbating the problem was the fact that the government
was ill-equipped to monetarily deal with the disaster
after just freshly emerging from a war as well as still
dealing with an on-going civil war.
But at least there was a silver lining which was...
nope, nope, there was no silver lining.
Just a lot of people died.
Yeah, awkward.
Number five is Hurricane Andrew.
When Hurricane Andrew occurred in 1992 it was
the costliest hurricane in history.
It was formed when a tropical wave moved to the
West Coast of Africa on August of 1992.
Within only two days it became a major tropical depression
and while it's intensity was initially damped by wind sheer,
the days after gave it time to develop into a
destructive tropical cyclone.
Along with Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Ike,
the cyclones spread massive destruction with Andrew
causing 44 fatalities and $26 million of property damage
in Florida alone.
But before it even hit the Florida coast,
it hit the Bahamas with high tides,
hurricane force winds, and tornadoes where it caused
a whopping $250 million of damage four deaths.
With no electricity and no clean water many citizens
began looting stores which of course makes no sense
considering most of them were underwater, but hey!
It's a tough economy,
so a free water logged TV is still a free TV!
Number six is the European Heatwave.
Between July and August of 2003,
Europe was struck with the hottest summer on record
since 1540 with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celcius
or higher daily.
Unfortunately, Europe was not too familiar with scorching
hot summers like that leaving them particularly vunerable
to its effects.
The heatwave caused a health crisis in several countries
as well as a drought that led to crop shortages
further worsening the problem.
Almost 15,000 casualties were recorded in France alone,
where old people in nursing homes were vulnerable as well as
single family homes with no air conditioning systems.
The blazing hot temperature dried up most of Europe
which caused forest fires and counter-intuitively
even flooding.
Before its end, the heatwave was believe to have taken
a total of 70,000 lives.
I'd like to point out that ironlically,
this heatwave occurred during the
International Year of Freshwater.
Oh, how cruel fate can be.
Number seven is the Haiti Earthquake.
What was once an unknown city in the Dominican Republic,
blew up in international headlines when it was struck with a
massive earthquake in 2010.
With a depth of 13 kilometers,
a 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti on the 12th of January
just south of Port au Prince.
The initial hit was followed by 59 aftershocks
ranging from 4.2 to 5.8 magnitudes and was the strongest
quake that hit the country since 1970.
The disaster led to over 200,000 deaths,
2 million people homeless, and 3 million people
in need of emergency aid.
Thankfully, the country received so much media attention
that a subsequent out poor of aid followed
totaling over $195 million.
As of 2013, still only half of the 10 million cubic meters
of debris has been remove with 20% of that being recycled.
See?
The media is still sometimes used for good!
Y'know, when they're not trying to controlling your
mind trying to keep you as a working zombie cog in a system
that's making rich men richer.
What?
Number eight is the Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano Irruption.
The Colombian volcano, Nevado Del Ruiz,
is a stratovolcano that is known for causing the
second largest volcano related disaster of the 20th century.
Generally, the volcano would produce Plinian irruptions,
which are columns of gas and volcanic ash that extend
into the atmosphere.
But on November 13 of 1985,
the volcano turned ugly and produced an enormous
pyroclastic flow that buried and devastated the
town of Armero in Tolima.
Known as the Armero tragedy,
the massive pyroclastic flow combined with a huge mud flow
buried the town causing the death of 25,000 people.
Much of it could've been avoided because of early
warning signs but the concerns were dismissed as
too alarmist and nothing was done to avoid the tragedy.
Y'know, if you think about it you really can't blame them
for not panicking or even listening to the warnings.
I mean, they live next to a volcano.
After a while, the threat of living next to a potential
imminent danger source eh, the shock and awe of it
kinda goes away. So, y'know.
Not their fault really.
Number nine is the North Korean Famine.
North Korea is known as a perfectly normal place
where nothing weird ever happens and it's led by a super
cool dude in a stellar jumpsuit,
so it's surprising that the country would ever face
a disaster of any kind!
Between 1994 and 1998,
a famine devastated the country with an estimated death toll
between 240,000 and 3.5 million caused by starvation
and other hunger related illnesses.
The event forever became known as the Arduous March.
Of it's 24 million people,
5 million of them were malnourished including
800,000 children that were on the brink of starvation.
Those citizens that were further from the capitol suffered
greater but everyone in North Korea suffered
from this famine.
The United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and other
European Union countries provided food assistance until 2002
when the North Korean government requested that they
end deliveries.
Obviously, because North Korea doesn't need help anymore.
They can feed their people just fine off of something
tastier and more nourishing like grass.
(laughs)
And number ten is New Zealand Earthquakes.
In 2011, New Zeland was hit with a magnitude 6.3 earthquake
that hit the country so hard that it became one of
the nations deadliest peace-time disasters.
Targeting the second largest city,
the disaster killed 185 people with 238 people reported
missing and 168 patients treated for injuries.
Causing an estimated $16 billion in damage,
the Christ Church and the Central Canterbury Church
were completely devistated.
And to add insult to injury,
the disaster came just six years after a previous
7.1 magnitude quake that also hit Canterbury.
Much has been done in the years since then to help
rebuild what was destroyed with repairs to damaged homes
costing more than a billion dollars.
Man, nothing has rocked the country this hard since the
New Zealand government realized that Peter Jackson ran out
of Tolkien books to adapt.
Ohh!
What, too soon?
Yeah, my bad. Sorry.
And that's it for this time guys.
I just want to remind you that your boy is on Snapchat.
It's a really fun way to connect with me,
I love to chat with you guys and live chat with you guys
and basically just always update my story with really goofy
stuff, so if you haven't added me yet be sure to add me.
My username is MatthewSantoro.
(indistinct talking)
My man, high five!
No--yeah, that's not really safe while driving.
My bad.
- I'm from Syria.
Do you know Syria?
- Yeah man!
Dude, you've got the coolest hair.
I'm freaking jealous.
(laughs)
- You've got the coolest teeth.
- Aww man, thank you very much!
As always, if you guys enjoyed this video be sure
to give that like button a click and if you want
to see future videos from me,
be sure to subscribe to my channel by clicking that red
subscribe button cause I upload every Tuesday and Saturday.
I hope you have a great day and I will see you later
on both my second channel and Snapchat!
Peace.