Our planet is a living planet, and the only known celestial body to have both a fully
functioning climate system and active plate tectonics.
But all that moving and shaking makes the Earth a potentially dangerous place to call
home, and natural disasters are an unfortunate but inevitable part of life for any species
that calls our blue marble home.
Evolving about 100,000 years ago, modern man has barely been around for but a blink of
an eye of the earth's history, and while we've been spared some of the greatest catastrophes
to ever rock the planet, we've faced our share of natural disasters.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
a the worst natural disasters in human history.
10.
With humans first settling large river valleys, floods have been one of our persistent woes
throughout human history.
Yet few floods ever matched the devastation of the Central China Flood, occurring across
the span of middle China in 1931.
Preceded by an abnormally heavy monsoon season that resulted in nine cyclones in one month
just prior to the flood, China was alternatively rocked by heavy drought and then extreme rainfall.
This sudden rainfall led to the Yangtze, Yellow, and Huai rivers bursting their banks and flooding
central China, killing millions of people and causing enormous property damage.
Famous as the deadliest flood of the twentieth century, the Central China Flood killed an
estimated 3.7 to 4 million people.
9.
Egypt/Syria Earthquake of 1202
The deadliest earthquake in recorded history, 13t h century Egypt and Syria were rocked
by a megaquake that led to a cascading cycle of disasters such as floods, tsunamis, and
then famine from devastated crops.
Thought to have been caused by a geologic shift under the Dead Sea, the earthquake created
a tsunami which led to extreme flooding.
All in all, the string of disasters left over 1.1 million people dead in the region.
8.
North Korea's Arduous March
North Korea has a long history of re-branding its natural disasters, and few in its history
were more devastating than the Arduous March that began in 1994 and lasted for four years.
Nearly half a decade in length, the Arduous March started as a famine which was quickly
exasperated by a series of natural disasters.
With its roots in ineffective government and the collapse of North Korea's patron-state,
the Soviet union, natural disasters intensified the effects of the resulting famines, leading
to over 500,000 deaths.
Recently North Korea has warned its citizens that another Arduous March is incoming, and
the world may soon see a repeat of one of the worst disasters in modern history.
7.
Great Bengal famine of 1770
Often at the whim of a precocious mother nature, humanity is no stranger to famines.
Ruled by the British East India Company at the time, the Great Bengal famine of 1770
struck territories in modern West Bengal, Bangladesh, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
A shortfall of crops in 1768 was a precursor to the disaster, but was at the time nothing
out of the ordinary.
However, after the failure of the annual South-East monsoon, a severe drought gripped the area
and crops failed across the region.
Initial reports of starvation were largely ignored by the East India Company, until mass
starvation struck in 1770.
A series of disease outbreaks and mismanagement by the British ultimately resulted in over
10 million deaths among the native population.
6.
Chinese Drought of 1876
Drought inevitably leads to famine, and no drought was deadlier than that which gripped
China in 1876.
A three year drought brought on by failure of regional monsoons devastated crops across
the nation, leading to between 9 to 13 million deaths from starvation.
Perhaps feeling guilty over their historical inaction in the face of catastrophe, the British
actually organized a global relief effort organized by British missionary Timothy Richard
who established the Shangdon Famine Relief committee.
Richard kept a detailed diary of the catastrophe and highlighted people eating the material
of their own houses, selling wives and daughters in a bid to stay alive, and even dead children
being boiled and eaten.
5.
1918 Flu Pandemic
Disease is one of the humanity's oldest foes, and few are more persistent than the seasonal
flu.
Yet taking hold amidst the destruction brought on by World War 1, the 1918 Flu Pandemic would
be the deadliest in history, infecting 500 million people and killing between 20 and
50 million of them.
Yet the strain of flu responsible was no more virulent or deadly than the modern flu, and
instead became deadly by ravaging a world population suffering from poor hygiene, concentrations
of war casualty hospitals, and poor nutrition- all side effects of the first world war.
First observed in Europe, its unknown where exactly the flu started, but it quickly made
its way around the world.
In America alone it dropped the life expectancy by a whopping 12 years.
4.
1887 Yellow River Flood
China is home to some of the world's mightiest rivers, and as a result is prone to the most
catastrophic floods in history.
Due to the elevated nature of the Yellow River, which runs along natural dikes that raise
it above the plains that surround it, it is one of the most flood-prone rivers on earth-
a fact well known by local Chinese who for millenia reinforced the banks of the rivers
with artificial dikes.
Yet in 1887 after days of extremely heavy flooding, the Yellow River burst its banks,
flooding large portions of eastern China and covering an estimated 50,000 square miles.
The initial floods left 2 million people homeless, and the resulting famine and lack of essentials
led to the death of an estimated 900,000 people.
3.
1556 Shaanxi Earthquake
Drought, famine, and floods- it seems China really has it all when it comes to the worst
of the worst.
One of the deadliest earthquakes on record, the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake struck on the
morning of January 23rd during the Ming dynasty.
An area 520 miles (840 kilometers) wide was completely flattened by the tremors, and an
estimated 830,000 people died.
With 60% of the region's populating dying and the absolute destruction in urban areas,
the total cost of the earthquake is all but impossible to calculate.
2.
1970 Bhola Cyclone
It seems Asia is a rather unkind place to live, but thankfully we can leave China alone
for the moment.
Striking East Pakistan and India's West Bengal on November 12th, 1970, the 1970 Bhola Cyclone
is one of the worst storms the region has ever seen and the deadliest storm in recorded
history.
Due to a severely inadequate early warning system in Pakistan, the total death toll is
estimated to be as high as 500,000.
Sadly, just after a duo of destructive cyclones in 1960, the Pakistan government had contacted
the Americans for assistance in developing a national early warning system to help people
evacuate.
After a detailed study and subsequent report granted to Pakistani authorities by the director
of America's National Hurricane Center, it was revealed that the Pakistani government
did not carry out most of the recommendations given them, leading to 1970's staggering death
toll.
1.
576 Earthquake of Antioch
Striking ancient Syria, the earthquake of 576 AD in Antioch devastated the Byzantine
empire and all but completely leveled the city.
The earthquake struck without warning on a morning between May 20th through the 29th,
and killed an estimated quarter of a million people.
Based on the severity of the destruction, scientists estimate that the earthquake was
between a category 8 and 9 on the Mercalli intensity scale.
The survivors of the initial earthquake then faced a massive fire which consumed all of
the remaining standing buildings, nearly wiping out the city in its entirety.
Emperor Justin the 1st was reportedly so devastated by the news of the death toll that he entered
the church in Constantinople without any of his holy symbols in an act of humility before
God.
A massive relief and rebuilding effort would see the city restored, but its inhabitants
would forever be haunted by the death of 250,000 people.
For as long as we remain on this earth humanity will continue to see its fair share of natural
disasters.
Yet modern improvements in warning and alerting systems, and international cooperation between
nations to coordinate relief efforts has seen death tolls dramatically lower.
Despite this though its certain that humanity still lives on a dangerous world, and with
bubbling supervolcanoes slumbering under Italy and Yellowstone in North America, the real
worst natural disaster in history may not lie in our past, but in our immediate future.
Perhaps even as early as tomorrow...
What is the worst natural disaster you've ever heard of?
Have you ever been in a natural disaster?
Let us know in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video Places That Are Weirder Than Bermuda Triangle?
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