Number 12 Lituya Bay Megatsunami Tsunamis are among Mother Nature’s most
intimidating and destructive displays of force.
Most are caused by underwater tectonic activity and therefore occur alongside earthquakes.
The most massive waves, however, are the result of a large amount of material suddenly falling
into the water.
The aptly-named megatsunamis can be caused by meteor strikes, volcanic activity or landslides.
The largest wave ever measured on Earth occurred in 1958, at Lituya Bay, Alaska.
A 7.8 earthquake triggered a rockslide but also the release of sediment from Lituya Glacier.
The quantity of rock alone weighed roughly 90 million tons, which is 100 times heavier
than The Golden Gate Bridge.
The megatsunami struck with such force that it stripped the trees and soil down to the
bedrock.
As it surged along the fjord, it destroyed a boat, killing two fishermen.
The maximum impact elevation was determined to have been 1,720 feet, meaning it would’ve
completely submerged the Empire State Building.
Number 11 Eruption of Mount Vesuvius One of the most dangerous aspects about volcanic
eruptions has to do with fast-moving currents of volcanic matter and hot gas called pyroclastic
flows.
Mount Vesuvius, in Italy, has erupted many times throughout the years but the most infamous
incident occurred in 79 AD.
That’s when massive pyroclastic surges completely buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The volcano released molten rock, hot ash and pulverized pumice at a rate of 1.5 million
tons per second.
The thermal energy generated by the eruption was 100,000 times that of the WW II nuclear
bombings.
The death toll remains unknown, but the total population of both cities was over 20,000.
Nowadays, the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction.
That being said, Vesuvius remains one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.
That’s not only due to its inclination towards violent, explosive eruptions but also because
it’s the most densely-populated volcanic region in the world.
An estimated 600,000 people live in the danger zone.
Number 10 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake According to imperial records from the 16th
century, an estimated 830,000 people lost their lives in the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake.
To put that figure into perspective, it’s almost double the population of Edinburgh,
Scotland’s capital city.
The disaster ravaged a 520-mile-wide area and it was so powerful that it tore the earth
open, creating deep crevices.
City walls, temples and houses collapsed within moments.
The reason for the staggering death toll has to do with yaodongs, dwellings carved into
loess caves.
Millions lived in these artificial caves and were buried alive as the soft, silty clay
collapsed on top of them.
The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake is the deadliest to have taken place, ever since humanity started
keeping records of these disasters.
Number 9 Bhola Cyclone In November of 1970, the Bhola cyclone devastated
areas mainly in East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh, but also in the West Bengal region
of India.
It’s one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.
The tropical cyclone reached wind speeds of up to 115 miles per hour after it made landfall.
The majority of victims perished as the storm surged, peaking at a height of 33 feet, flooded
the Ganges Delta and its low-lying islands.
A storm surge is a tsunami-like phenomenon in which rising water, pushed by powerful
winds, violently inundates coastal areas.
The storm was so intense that it sank a 5,500-ton freighter, killing all 50 souls on board.
The exact death toll of the Bhola cyclone isn’t known, but it’s estimated at anywhere
from 300,000 to over 500,000.
Going by the latter figure, it would’ve killed more people than the population of
Miami, Florida.
Most of the casualties were children.
Many victims exhibited something that was dubbed “cyclone syndrome”.
These were injuries consisting of severe abrasions to the limbs and chest, sustained by survivors
as they were clinging to trees to cope with the storm.
Number 8 Minoan Eruption It’s not often that a natural disaster contributes
to the disappearance of an entire civilization but that’s what happened around the year
1,600 BC.
A tremendous volcanic eruption devastated the island of Thera, present-day Santorini,
in the Aegean Sea.
The volume of ejected material was roughly 40,000 larger than that of The Great Pyramid
of Giza.
The eruption column reached the stratosphere and rose to about 22 miles.
To put such incredible proportions into perspective, it was taller than Olympus Mons, on Mars,
which is the tallest mountain in our Solar System.
Tsunamis ravaged the northern coastline of Crete, even though the island was nearly 70
miles away.
In some areas the waves reached almost 500 feet, meaning they would’ve struck near
the top of the Washington Monument.
The Minoan settlement at Akrotiri, as well as others in the area, collapsed in the eruption.
It was a critical blow for the Minoans, who were a naval power and based their economy
on their ships.
The crisis that ensued made them susceptible to conquest and absorption by the Mycenaeans.
There are historians who believe that the fall of the Minoan civilization may have inspired
Plato’s story of Atlantis.
Number 7 Daulatpur-Saturia Tornado With a suspected death toll of at least 1,300,
the Daulatpur-Saturia tornado is the deadliest event of its kind.
It was born, in part, by the meeting of cool dry air, flowing from the Himalayas and warm,
moist air from the Gulf of Bengal.
The jet stream picked up on April the 26th 1989.
Winds of up to 150 miles per hour were observed high in the atmosphere, at an estimated 35,000
feet, the cruising altitude of a Boeing 747 jet.
As the tornado touched down, it started moving on what would later be determined as a 50-mile-long
path.
Every home within 2.3 square miles of the tornado’s path was destroyed, leaving about
80,000 people homeless.
Countless trees were uprooted by winds that reached 260 miles per hour.
Number 6 1972 Iran Blizzard Over the course of about a week, in 1972,
thousands of lives in Iran were claimed by severe winter storms and low temperatures.
It’s often described as the deadliest blizzard in history.
Areas throughout the country were buried under several feet of snow.
Southern Iran was the most affected region, as snow deposits rose to 26 feet.
At least 4,000 people were buried alive.
According to contemporary reports, several outlying villages, such as Kumar or Kakkan,
registered no survivors.
Number 5 2003 European Heat Wave The 2003 heat wave led to the hottest summer
experienced by the European continent since at least the 16th century.
July and August were the hottest months and France was the most affected country.
The city of Auxerre, for example, reported temperatures above 104 F for eight consecutive
days.
The country certainly wasn’t ready to face a heat wave.
It didn’t usually deal with very hot summers.
Consequently, many of the older homes or residential areas weren’t fitted with air conditioning.
Even in the hottest months, the nights were typically cool.
However, in the summer of 2003, the cooling cycle was broken as the heat carried on, unabated,
into the night.
The elderly were most at risk and accounted for the majority of the casualties.
A study places the total loss of live across the European continent at beyond 70,000.
Number 4 Ch'ing-yang Event The 1490 Ch'ing-yang event, which occurred
in the east of China’s Gansu province, is one of the deadliest impact events in recorded
history.
It was a meteor shower, likely caused by the air burst of an asteroid upon atmospheric
entry.
Air bursts are explosions that disintegrate relatively large asteroids or comets as they
hit the thicker part of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The resulting debris may completely burn up in the atmosphere or impact the ground.
Based on historical accounts of the Ch'ing-yang event, the stones that fell ranged from the
size of goose eggs to water chestnuts.
More than 10,000 people were killed as the meteor fragments struck them.
Almost all the surviving residents subsequently fled the city.
Number 3 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami In 2004, a megathrust earthquake occurred
off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
In terms of sheer intensity, it’s the 3rd most powerful earthquake ever measured.
Its effects were catastrophic in large part due to the massive tsunamis it generated.
In terms of tectonics, the natural disaster was triggered by a rupture along the fault
between the Burma Plate and India Plate.
Tectonic plates continuously move across the surface of the Earth due to hot currents in
the planet’s mantle.
As they meet at a fault line, one plate will slowly move under another and melt into the
mantle.
Sudden transitions cause ruptures, which are expressed as earthquakes and tsunamis.
In 2004, the seismic activity triggered waves more than 100 feet high.
They struck coastlines in the Indian Ocean, and the total loss of life was estimated at
227,898, with victims hailing from 14 countries.
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Number 2 Yellow River Flood of 1887 On two occasions, the Yellow River, in China,
lashed out against humanity.
Interestingly enough, in both cases people played a major role in the ensuing disasters.
The first occurred in the fall of 1887.
For centuries, farmers living in the region had built embankments to contain the river
and its tributaries.
Unfortunately, this only caused the water levels to rise.
Since the rivers weren’t allowed to flood, their sediments were deposited directly on
the river bed.
After heavy rains, in the fall of 1887, the water rose above the embankments and a massive
flood ensued.
It spread rapidly through the low plains of Northern China, covering an area of about
50,000 square miles.
Commercial spaces and agricultural settlements were turned into swamps.
Many were displaced and left without the basic essentials.
The highest death toll associated with the flood, has been placed at 2 million.
Number 1 Yellow River Flood of 1938 A second massive flood associated with the
Yellow River occurred in the summer of 1938.
It’s been called “the largest act of environmental warfare” in history.
After the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, in 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army advanced
rapidly towards the heart of China.
They’d already taken control of the country’s north and were threatening Zhengzhou.
A success there would have given them a way into the major city of Wuhan.
The defending Chinese military decided to slow down the invading forces by using the
power of the Yellow River.
They opened up an embankment and the roaring waters overtook the land.
Hundreds of thousands of people perished, many of them Japanese soldiers but also Chinese
civilians.
The floods ravaged farmlands and made refugees out of about 4 million.
The effectiveness of the strategy would be questioned by historians.
It did stop the move on Zhengzhou but Wuhan, which was the endgame, was taken by the Japanese
military by October after they’d simply attacked it from a different direction.
Thanks for watching!
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