A volcano is a landform (usually a mountain) where molten rock erupts through the surface of the planet. In simple terms a volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock (magma) below the surface of the earth. It is a hole in the Earth from which molten rock and gas erupt.

The name “volcano” has its origin from the name of Vulcan, a god of fire in Roman mythology. As pressure in the molten rock builds up it needs to escape somewhere. So it forces its way up “fissures” which are narrow cracks in the earths crust. Once the magma erupts through the earth’s surface it’s called lava.

More facts about volcanoes you can find here Everything to know about Volcano

 

A strange and catastrophic double earthquake was responsible for the tsunami that devastated parts of the South Pacific in 2009, scientists claim. In a rare set of events, an initial 8.1 magnitude earthquake was immediately followed by a second 8.0 shock. The resulting tsunami devastated the South Pacific islands of Tonga and Samoa.

An estimated 192 people died as four waves each more than five metres high surged inland. And international team led by Professor Thorne Lay of the University of California, US, studied the causes of the tsunami. The results are published in the journal Nature. The earthquake was unusual, not only because of the double shock, but also because of the location of the first event. Almost all catastrophic earthquakes – shocks of magnitude 8.0 or bigger – occur at locations where fragments of the Earth’s rigid crust, known as tectonic plates, grind against one another.

Quick info: I am presenting the list of deadliest and most catastrophic wars in human history. Data are collected from Wikipedia. These figures of one million or more deaths include the deaths of civilians from diseases, famine, etc., as well as deaths of soldiers in battle and possible massacres and genocide.

Quick intro: I have collected some information about airplane accidents in the past decade which caused lost of many lives. I have ranged it by death toll. Most of the information are from Wikipedia and Britanica Encarta. Feel free to post any comment or to add something historicaly useful in case I missed something. I appreciate in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. American Airlines Flight 191 (Chicago, 1979)

Death toll = 273

American Airlines Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles International Airport. On May 25, 1979, the flight, operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 crashed during takeoff from Chicago. The jet had 258 passengers and 13 crew on board, all of whom died in the accident, along with two on the ground.

Investigators found that as the jet was carrying out the takeoff rotation, engine number one separated and flipped over the top of the wing. As the engine separated from the aircraft, it damaged the left wing resulting in a retraction of the slats. The left wing aerodynamically stalled while the right continued to produce lift. The jet subsequently rolled to the left, reaching a bank angle of 112 degrees (partially inverted), before impacting with an open field near a trailer park shortly after the end of the runway.

The engine separation was attributed to damage to the pylon rigging structure holding the engine to the wing caused by improper maintenance procedures at American Airlines. Contributing to the cause of the accident were the vulnerability of the design of the pylon attach points to maintenance damage and the fact the FAA failed to identify substandard maintenance procedures.

Whilst the crash was caused mainly by maintenance errors, the accident was one of a sequence that added to the negative reputation of the DC-10. It remains the deadliest airliner accident on U.S. soil.

The disaster and investigation was quickly and thoroughly covered by the media, assisted by new news gathering technologies. The impact on the public was increased by the dramatic effect of amateur photos taken of the accident, which were published on the banner of the Chicago Tribune the following day. Officials at the Los Angeles International destination airport, were careful to keep the arriving news media away from passenger relatives, who were waiting for the arrival of Flight 191.

There were some early reports that a collision of a small plane had been involved in the crash. This apparently resulted from the discovery of small aircraft parts among the wreckage at the crash site. National Transportation Safety Board vice-chairman Elwood T. Driver, in a press briefing, was photographed holding a broken bolt and nut, implying these parts were a cause of the accident. The parts were subsequently determined to have been on the ground at the time of the crash, at the former general aviation Ravenswood Airport, a facility which had been out of service for a few years. An owner there had been selling used aircraft parts from a remaining hangar building.

The crash of flight 191 brought criticism from the media, because it was the fourth fatal accident involving a DC-10 at the time, totaling 662 fatalities. The separation of engine one from its mount raised widespread concerns about the safety of the DC-10.

 

9. Iran Air Flight 655 (Persian Gulf, 1988)

Death toll = 290

Iran Air Flight 655, also known as IR655, was a civilian airliner shot down by US missiles on 3 July 1988, over the Strait of Hormuz, toward the end of the Iran–Iraq War.

The aircraft, an Airbus A300B2 operated by Iran Air as IR655, was flying from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Dubai, UAE, when it was destroyed by the U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard, including 66 children, ranking it seventh among the deadliest airliner fatalities. It was the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Indian Ocean and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world. Vincennes was traversing the Straits of Hormuz, inside Iranian territorial waters, and at the time of the attack IR655 was within Iranian airspace.

According to the US government, the crew mistakenly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. The Iranian government maintained that the Vincennes knowingly shot down the civilian aircraft. The event generated a great deal of controversy and criticism of the US. Some analysts have blamed US military commanders and the captain of the Vincennes for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.

In 1996, the United States and Iran reached "an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims" relating to the incident at the International Court of Justice. As part of the settlement, the United States agreed to pay US$61.8 million in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims. However, the United States has never admitted responsibility, nor apologized to Iran. As of summer 2009 Iran Air was still using flight number IR655 on the Tehran–Dubai route.

According to the documents submitted to the International Court of Justice by Iran, the aircraft was carrying 290 people: 274 passengers and a crew of 16. Of these 290, 254 were Iranian nationals, 13 were nationals of the United Arab Emirates, ten of India, six of Pakistan, six of Yugoslavia and one of Italy.

 

8. Saudia Flight 163 (Ryiadh, 1980)

Death toll = 301

Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled passenger flight of Saudia that caught fire at Riyadh’s International Airport (now the Riyadh Air Base) after a flight from Karachi, Pakistan. The fire, on August 19, 1980, killed all 287 passengers and 14 crew on board the Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar, registered HZ-AHK, which had been due to fly on to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.

At the time the incident was the second deadliest single aircraft disaster in history, after Turkish Airlines Flight 981. It was also the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Saudi Arabia and the highest death toll of any accident involving a Lockheed L-1011 anywhere in the world.

Saudi officials said that most of the passengers consisted of Saudis and Pakistanis. Many of the passengers consisted of Pakistani religious pilgrims. Diplomats in Jeddah said that four Koreans, three Britons, two Thais, and one Irishman boarded the flight. The crew included six Filipinos, three Pakistanis, and one Briton. Both the pilot and co-pilot were Saudi nationals with the flight engineer being a US national. The aviation directorate stated that 82 of the passengers boarded in Karachi and, of the passengers who boarded in Riyadh, 32 were religious pilgrims from Iran.

Walter Muller, a former chief of the Policy Analysis Division of the Federal Aviation Administration, filed a lawsuit against Lockheed, Saudia, and Trans World Airlines, an American airline that trained Saudi pilots and supervised the Saudi maintenance program. Muller’s brother, Jack A. Muller, and his sister in law, Elizabeth S. Muller, died in the fire. Muller’s suit stated that Lockheed allowed for "dangerous materials to be incorporated in the fuselage," that there was no vent system to distribute the gases away from the passengers, and that a sufficient oxygen system did not exist. Muller’s suit accused Saudia of not properly maintaining the aircraft and providing safety for passengers and accused TWA of not properly maintaining the Saudia aircraft and not properly training crew.

After the event, the airline revised the emergency procedures and training. Lockheed also removed the insulation from above the rear cargo area, and added glass laminate structural reinforcement. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that aircraft use halon extinguishers instead of traditional hand-held fire extinguishers.

 

7. Iran Ilyushin Il-76 (Iran, 2003)

Death toll = 302

The 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash was the deadliest aircraft accident in Iran. The crash, on February 19, 2003, killed 302 people, most of them members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. That crash marked the third Il-76 crash in Iran.

The official report says bad weather brought the aircraft down; high winds and fog were present at the time of the crash. Some sources speculate that the accident may also have been the result of a mid-air collision, of structural failure, or a terrorist act following a claim of responsibility from the Abu-Bakr Brigades, a terrorist organization.

 

6. Air India Flight 182 (Atlantic Ocean, 1985)

Death toll = 329

Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montréal-London-Delhi-Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route — a Boeing 747-237B (c/n 21473/330, reg VT-EFO) named after Emperor Kanishka – was blown up by a bomb while in Irish airspace, at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m), and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. In all, 329 people perished, among them 280 Canadian nationals, mostly of Indian birth or descent, and 22 Indians. The incident represents the largest mass murder in modern Canadian history. The explosion and downing of the carrier occurred within an hour of the related Narita Airport Bombing.

Investigation and prosecution took almost 20 years and was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly CAD $130 million. A special commission found the accused perpetrators not guilty and they were released; only one person was convicted of involvement in the bombing, after pleading guilty in 2003 to manslaughter. The Governor General-in-Council in 2006 appointed former Supreme Court justice John Major to conduct a commission of inquiry and his report was completed and released on 17 June 2010. It was found that a "cascading series of errors" by the Government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had allowed the terrorist attack to take place.

In the subsequent worldwide investigations over six years, many threads of the plot were uncovered:

• The bombing was the joint project of at least two Sikh terrorist groups with extensive membership in Canada, USA, England and India. Their anger had been sparked by an attack on the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar in June 1984.
• Two men, identified by their tickets as M. Singh and L. Singh, checked in their bag bombs at Vancouver International Airport a few hours apart on 22 June 1985. Both men failed to board their flights.
• The bag checked in by M. Singh exploded aboard Air India Flight 182.
• The second bag, checked in by L. Singh, went on Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 003 from Vancouver to Tokyo. Its target was Air India Flight 301 due to leave soon with 177 passengers and crew bound for Bangkok-Don Mueang, but it exploded at the terminal in Narita Airport itself. Two Japanese baggage handlers were killed and four other people were injured.

• The identities of these two men remain unknown.
• A key player known to police variously as the "Third Man" or the "Unknown Male" was seen by CSIS agents who were following Talwinder Singh Parmar on 4 June 1985. Described as a "youthful man", he went with Parmar on a ferry ride from Vancouver to Duncan on Vancouver Island where he and Parmar participated in a test explosion of a device manufactured by Inderjit Singh Reyat. The third man has also been linked to travels done under tickets bought under the name "L. Singh" or "Lal Singh".

 

5. Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (Paris, 1974)

Death toll = 346

 

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, registered TC-JAV and named the Ankara, that crashed just outside Senlis, France, on 3 March 1974. Known as the "Ermenonville air disaster", from the forest where the aircraft crashed, the accident resulted in the deaths of all 346 on board. The crash of Flight 981 was the deadliest air disaster of all time before the Tenerife Disaster event of 1977, and remained the deadliest single-airliner disaster until the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 in 1985. Flight 981 has the highest death toll of any aviation accident in France and the highest death toll of any accident involving a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 anywhere in the world.

The crash resulted from the failure of the rear cargo hatch latching system, which allowed the hatch to blow off in flight. The resulting decompression of the cargo hold caused the cabin floor above the hatch to collapse. The flight control cables for the airplane that ran through the floor were severed, leaving the pilots with almost no control over the aircraft. Problems with the latching system and the potential failure mode that led to the crash were known to Convair, the fuselage’s builder, with the information passed on to McDonnell Douglas several years prior to the accident. Changes that addressed the problem had been found, but were not applied to TC-JAV, nor any other aircraft in the DC-10 fleet. McDonnell Douglas instead chose a solution less disruptive to schedules but failed to ensure that personnel were trained to follow the new procedures to ensure the hatch had locked. McDonnell Douglas’s reputation and the reputation of the DC-10 were harmed.

Investigators were able to retrieve both the flight data recorder and *censored*pit voice recorder. These showed that the first hint the flight crew had of any problem was a muffled explosion that took place just after the aircraft passed over Meaux. The explosion was followed by a loud rush of air, and the throttle for the tail-mounted No. 2 engine snapped shut at the same moment. At some point, one of the crew pressed his microphone button, broadcasting the pandemonium in the *censored*pit on the departure frequency.

The wreckage was so fragmented that it was difficult to tell whether any parts of the aircraft were missing. An air traffic controller noted that as the flight was cleared to FL230, he had briefly seen a second echo on his radar, remaining stationary behind the aircraft. A farmer soon telephoned in, and it was discovered that the rear cargo-hold hatch beneath the floor, portions of the interior floor, and six passenger seats (still holding dead passengers) had landed in a turnip field near the town of Saint-Pathus, approximately 15 kilometers south of the main crash site.

French investigators determined that the rear cargo hold hatch had failed in flight. When it failed, the cargo area decompressed, but not so in the passenger area above it. The difference in air pressure, several pounds per square inch, caused the floor to fail, blowing a section of the passenger cabin immediately above the hatch out through the open hatch. The control cables, which were beneath the floor, were severed, and the pilots lost control of the airliner’s elevators, its rudder, and the number two engine. Without these controls, it was impossible to control the aircraft.

 

4. Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision (India, 1996)

Death toll = 349

The 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision occurred on 12 November 1996 when Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 (SVA 763), a Boeing 747-168B en route from New Delhi, India, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, collided in mid-air with Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 (KZK 1907), an Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Shymkent, Kazakhstan to New Delhi, over the village of Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, India. All 349 people on board both flights were killed, making it the deadliest mid-air collision in history.

Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763

Many of the passengers on the Saudi flight consisted of Indians traveling to jobs in Saudi Arabia and others going home. A 14 November article from The New York Times stated that 215 Indians who boarded the flight worked in Saudi Arabia. Many of the Indians worked or planned to work in blue collar jobs as house maids, drivers, and cooks.

According to a 13 November 1996 The New York Times article, the passenger manifest included 17 people of other nationalities, including nine Nepalis, three Pakistanis, two Americans, one Bangladeshi, one Briton, and one Saudi.

A 14 November article from The New York Times stated that 40 Nepalis and 3 Americans boarded the Saudi flight.

12 of the crew members, including 5 anti-terrorism men, consisted of Saudis.

Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907

A Kyrgyzstan company chartered the flight, and the passenger manifest mostly included ethnic Russian Kyrgyz citizens planning to go shopping in India.

Thirteen Kyrgyz traders boarded the flight.

The crash was investigated by the Lahoti Commission, headed by then-Delhi High Court judge Ramesh Chandra Lahoti. Depositions were taken from the Air Traffic Controllers Guild and the two airlines. The flight data recorders were decoded by Kazakh Airlines and Saudia under supervision of air crash investigators in Moscow and Farnborough, Hampshire, England, respectively.

Indira Gandhi International Airport did not have secondary surveillance radar, which produces exact readings of aircraft altitudes; instead the airport had outdated primary radar, which produced approximate readings. In addition, the civilian airspace around New Delhi had one corridor for departures and arrivals. Most areas separate departures and arrivals into separate corridors. The airspace had one civilian corridor because much of the airspace was taken by the Indian Air Force. Due to the crash, the air-crash investigation report recommended changes to air-traffic procedures and infrastructure in New Delhi’s air-space: Separation of in-bound and out-bound aircraft through the creation of ‘air corridors’, installation of a secondary air-traffic control radar for aircraft altitude data, mandatory collision avoidance equipment on commercial aircraft operating in Indian airspace and reduction of the airspace over New Delhi which was formerly under exclusive control of the Indian Air Force.

 

3. Air Africa Antonov AN-32 Crash (Kinshasa, 1996)

Death toll = 350

The 1996 Air Africa crash occurred on 8 January 1996 when an overloaded Air Africa Antonov An-32B aircraft, wet leased from Moscow Airways and bound for Kahemba Airport, overshot the runway at N’Dolo Airport in Kinshasa, DR Congo after failing to take off. The aircraft ploughed into Kinshasa’s Simbazikita street market, causing an estimated 300 fatalities (including two onboard the aircraft) and 253 serious injuries. As of 2007, this remains the largest number of non-passenger ground fatalities caused by the accidental crash of an aircraft. According to the Russian Air Transport Department, the aircraft was operating out of license.

While attempting to take off fully fueled and overloaded from N’Dolo Airport’s short runway, the An-32B did not achieve sufficient speed to bring its nose up, yet began to lift. It crashed through the open-air Simbazikita produce market, full of shacks, pedestrians, and cars. The fuel load ignited. The number of casualties cited varies from 225 (per the manslaughters charged) to 348.

 

2. Japan Airlines Flight 123 (Japan, 1985)

Death toll = 520

Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a Japan Airlines domestic flight from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to Osaka International Airport (Itami). The Boeing 747-SR46 that made this route, registered JA8119, suffered mechanical failures 12 minutes into the flight and 32 minutes later crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, 100 kilometers from Tokyo, on Monday 12 August 1985. The crash site was on Osutaka Ridge, near Mount Osutaka. All 15 crew members and 505 out of 509 passengers died, resulting in a total of 520 deaths and 4 survivors. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. The aircraft involved, registration number JA8119, was a Boeing 747SR-46. Its first flight was on January 28, 1974. Before it was destroyed it had 25,030 airframe hours and 18,835 cycles.

The flight was around the Obon holiday period in Japan, when many Japanese people every year make trips to their hometowns or resorts. 21 non-Japanese boarded the flight. The four survivors, all female, were seated towards the rear of the plane: Yumi Ochiai, an off-duty JAL flight attendant, age 25, who was jammed between a number of seats; Hiroko Yoshizaki, a 34-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko Yoshizaki, who were trapped in an intact section of the fuselage; and a 12-year-old girl, Keiko Kawakami, who was found wedged between branches in a tree. Among the dead were the famous singer Kyu Sakamoto and Japanese banker Akihisa Yukawa, the father of solo violinist Diana Yukawa.

 

1. Tenerife Airport Disaster (Tenerife, 1977)

Death toll = 583

The Tenerife airport disaster in 1977 was a collision involving two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport (now known as Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. With 583 fatalities, the crash remains the deadliest accident in aviation history. All 248 aboard the fully fuelled KLM flight were killed. There were also 335 fatalities and 61 survivors from the Pan Am flight, which was struck along its spine by the KLM’s landing gear, under-belly and four engines. Rescue crews were unaware for over 20 minutes that the Pan Am aircraft was also involved in the accident, because of the heavy fog and the separation of the crippled aircraft following the collision.

The collision took place on March 27, 1977, at 17:06:56 local time. The aircraft were operating as Pan Am Flight 1736 (the Clipper Victor) under the command of Captain Victor Grubbs, and KLM Flight 4805 (the Rijn) under the command of Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. Taking off in heavy fog on the airport’s only runway, the KLM flight crashed into the top of the Pan Am aircraft backtaxiing in the opposite direction. The Pan Am had followed the backtaxiing of the KLM aircraft, under the direction of Air Traffic Control, and the KLM’s flight crew had been aware of Pan Am backtaxiing behind them on the same runway. Despite lack of visual confirmation (because of the fog) the KLM captain thought that Pan Am had cleared the runway and so attempted to take off without further clearance to do so. Several other key factors contributed to the accident.

About 70 crash investigators from Spain, the Netherlands, the United States, and the two airline companies were involved in the investigation. Facts showed that there had been misinterpretations and false assumptions. Analysis of the CVR transcript showed that the KLM pilot was convinced that he had been cleared for takeoff, while the Tenerife control tower was certain that the KLM 747 was stationary at the end of the runway and awaiting takeoff clearance. It appears KLM’s co-pilot was not as certain about take-off clearance as the captain.

Subsequent to the crash, first officer Robert Bragg, who was responsible for handling the Pan Am’s radio communications, made public statements which conflict with statements made by the Pan Am crew in the official transcript of the CVR. In the documentary Crash of the Century (produced by the makers of Mayday), he stated he was convinced the tower controller had intended they take the fourth exit C-4 because the controller delivered the message to take "the third one, sir, one; two, three; third, third one" after the Pan Am’s had already passed C-1 (making C-4 the third exit counting from there). The CVR shows unequivocally that they received this message before they identified C-1, with the position of the aircraft somewhere between the entrance and C-1. Also, in a Time article, Bragg stated that he made the statement "What’s he doing? He’ll kill us all[!]" which does not appear in the CVR transcript.

Although the Dutch authorities were initially reluctant to blame Captain van Zanten and his crew, the airline ultimately accepted responsibility for the accident. KLM paid the victims or their families compensation ranging between $58,000 and $600,000. As reported in a March 25, 1980, Washington Post article the sum of settlements for property and damages was $110 million (an average of $189,000 per victim, due to limitations imposed by European Compensation Conventions in effect at the time).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick intro: I have collected some info and made a selection about 10 the most deadliest natural disasters. I was considering mostly Wikipedia and Encarta because I believe they have the most accurate information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.  Haiti earthquake (January 12, 2010)

The 2010 Haiti earthquake (Haitian Creole: Tranblemanntè 2010 nan pe Ayiti) was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reported that an estimated 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning immediately after the initial quake, but quickly cancelled it. Nearly two weeks later it was reported that the beach of the small fishing town of Petit Paradis was hit by a localised tsunami wave shortly after the earthquake, probably as a result of an underwater slide, and this was later confirmed by researchers. At least three people were swept out to sea by the wave and were reported dead. Witnesses told reporters that the sea first retreated and a "very big wave" followed rapidly, crashing ashore and sweeping boats and debris into the ocean.
Amongst the widespread devastation and damage throughout Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, vital infrastructure necessary to respond to the disaster was severely damaged or destroyed. This included all hospitals in the capital; air, sea, and land transport facilities; and communication systems.

In July, as much as 98% of the rubble from the quake remains uncleared. An estimated 26 cubic yards (20 m3) million remain, making most of the capital impassable. Thousands of bodies remain in the rubble. The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake remains at 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing has been built. Most of the camps have no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents are beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps is widespread, especially against women and girls. Between 23 major charities, $1.1 billion has been collected for Haiti for relief efforts. Two percent of the money has been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion was pledged for humanitarian aid and has paid for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers.

9. Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (December 26, 2004)

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest hit, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. The plight of the many affected people and countries prompted a widespread humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than $7 billion (2004 U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid. The hypocenter occurred between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia.

The sudden vertical rise of the seabed by several metres during the earthquake displaced massive volumes of water, resulting in a tsunami that struck the coasts of the Indian Ocean. A tsunami which causes damage far away from its source is sometimes called a teletsunami and is much more likely to be produced by vertical motion of the seabed than by horizontal motion.
Despite a lag of up to several hours between the earthquake and the impact of the tsunami, nearly all of the victims were taken completely by surprise. There were no tsunami warning systems in the Indian Ocean to detect tsunamis or to warn the general populace living around the ocean. Tsunami detection is not easy because while a tsunami is in deep water it has little height and a network of sensors is needed to detect it. Setting up the communications infrastructure to issue timely warnings is an even bigger problem, particularly in a relatively poor part of the world.

8. Haiyuan earthquake (December 16, 1920)

1920 Haiyuan earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on December 16, 1920. The epicenter was 36°30′N 105°42′E / 36.50°N 105.70°E / 36.50; 105.70, in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, Republic of China. It was also called the 1920 Gansu earthquake because Ningxia was a part of Gansu Province when the earthquake occurred. The earthquake hit at local time 20:06:53 (GMT 12:06:53), reportedly 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, followed by a series of aftershocks for three years. Today’s Chinese media claim the earthquake as of magnitude 8.5, although the scale is not specified. It caused total destruction (XII – the maximum intensity on the Mercalli scale) in the Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area. Over 73,000 people were killed in Haiyuan County. A landslide buried the village of Sujiahe in Xiji County. More than 30,000 people were killed in Guyuan County. Nearly all the houses collapsed in the cities of Longde and Huining. Damage (VI-X) occurred in 7 provinces and regions, including the major cities of Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Xi’an, Xining and Yinchuan. It was felt from the Yellow Sea to Qinghai (Tsinghai) Province and from Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) south to central Sichuan Province.
About 200 km (125 mi) of surface faulting was seen from Lijunbu through Ganyanchi to Jingtai. There were large numbers of landslides and ground cracks throughout the epicentral area. Some rivers were dammed, others changed course. Seiches from this earthquake were observed in 2 lakes and 3 fjords in western Norway.Total casualty was reported as 200,000 in a summary published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), 240,000 according to Ningxia Daily, a Chinese publication in the current administrative area, and 235,502 according to the Catalog of Damaging Earthquakes in the World (Through 2008) maintained by the International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering.

7. Tangshan eartquake (July 28, 1976)

The Tangshan Earthquake also known as the Great Tangshan Earthquake, was a natural disaster that occurred on July 28, 1976. It is believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century by death toll. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Tangshan in Hebei, People’s Republic of China, an industrial city with approximately one million inhabitants.

The number of deaths initially reported by the Chinese government was 655,000, but this number has since been stated to be around 240,000 to 255,000. A further 164,000 people were recorded as being severely injured. The earthquake came in between a series of political events involving the Communist Party of China. It shook China both literally and figuratively in 1976, which was later labeled a "Year of curse". The earthquake hit in the early morning, at 03:42:53.8 local time (1976 July 27 19:42:53.8 UTC), and lasted for around 15 seconds. Chinese Government’s official sources state 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, though some sources listed it as high as 8.2. It was followed by a major 7.8 magnitude aftershock some 16 hours later, increasing the death toll.

6. Antioch earthquake (526)

In 526 during late May, probably between the 20th and the 29th, a major earthquake hit Syria and Antioch, Turkey, killing approximately 250000 people. The earthquake was followed by a fire that destroyed most of the buildings left standing by the earthquake. Damage estimates on the Modified Mercalli scale are; VIII Antioch, VII Dafna & Seleucia Pieria. In the port of Seleucia Pereia an uplift of 0.7–0.8 m has been estimated, and the subsequent silting up of the harbour left it unusable. It was the 3rd most deadly earthquake of all time.

5. India cyclon (November 25, 1839)

A 40-foot storm surge from a huge cyclone that hit Coringa, India on November 25 destroyed 20,00  ships and killed approximately 300,000 people.

4. Bhola cyclone (November 13, 1970)

The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India’s West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times. Up to 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. This cyclone was the sixth cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, and also the season’s strongest, reaching a strength equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.

The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on November 8 and travelled north, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on November 12, and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan that night. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected Thana, Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 was killed by the storm.

The Pakistani government was severely criticized for its handling of the relief operations following the storm, both by local political leaders in East Pakistan and in the international media. The opposition Awami League gained a landslide victory in the province, and continuing unrest between East Pakistan and the central government triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War, which concluded with the creation of the country of Bangladesh.

3. Shaanxi eartquake (January 23, 1556)

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Jiajing earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake and is also the deadliest earthquake on record, killing approximately 830,000 people in China. It occurred on the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, during the Ming Dynasty. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected. An 840-kilometre (520 mi)-wide area was destroyed, and in some counties 60% of the population was killed. Most of the population in the area at the time lived in yaodongs, artificial caves in loess cliffs, many of which collapsed during the catastrophe with great loss of life.

The Shaanxi earthquake’s epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, near the cities of Huaxian, Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the tens of thousands. The situation in Weinan and Huayin was similar. In certain areas, 20-metre (66 ft) deep crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death were everywhere, affecting places as far as 500 kilometres (310 mi) from the epicenter.

2. Yellow River Flood (September, October, 1887)

he 1887 Yellow River flood was a devastating flood on the Yellow River (Huang He) in China. This river is prone to flooding due to the elevated nature of the river, running between dykes above the broad plains surrounding it. The flood that began in September 1887 devastated the area, killing some 900,000 people. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.

For centuries, the farmers living near the Yellow River had built dikes to contain the rising waters, caused by silt accumulation on the riverbed. In 1887, this rising riverbed, coupled with days of heavy rain, overcame the dikes on around 28th September, causing a massive flood. Since there is no international unit with which to measure a flood’s strength it is usually classified by the extent of the damage done,depth of water left and number of casualties.

The waters of the Yellow River are generally thought to have broken through the dikes in Huayankou, near the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province. Owing to the low-lying plains near the area, the flood spread very quickly throughout Northern China, covering an estimated 50,000 square miles, swamping agricultural settlements and commercial centers. After the flood, two million were left homeless. The resulting pandemic and lack of basic essentials claimed as many lives as those lost directly by the flood itself. It was one of the worst floods in history, though the later 1931 Yellow River flood may have killed as many as four million.

1. China floods (July, November, 1931)

The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred during the Nanjing decade in the Republic of China era. It is generally considered the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics are discounted) and in China. The human casualties are estimated from 1,345,000 to between 3.7 million to 4 million.

From 1928 to 1930 a long drought preceded the flood. By some accounts abnormal weather over central China began in the winter of late 1930. Heavy snowstorms in the winter were followed by spring thaw/defrost heavy rains that raised the river levels even higher. The rain increased into July and August of 1931. In July alone 7 cyclones hit the region. On average two occur per year.

Chinese sources usually indicate the death toll of the Yangtze river drainage at about 145,000 and affecting 28.5 million, while most western sources place the death toll from the floods at an estimation between 3.7 and 4 million people.

The Yellow River has historically been considered the "Cradle of Chinese Civilization". Major floods in this river generally have catastrophic agricultural, economic and social impact. The Yellow River flood occurred between July and November 1931. Estimates of the number of people killed in the flood generally range from 1 to 2 million. Figures have shown about 1 million people died of drowning. Some listed the Yellow River death toll alone to be as high as 4 million. The river completely inundated 87,000 km2 (20,000,000 acres). It partially inundated 20,000 km2 (5,000,000 acres), and left 80 million people homeless.

 

 

 

 

I was watching news today and saw this 59 People Killed in Indian Train Crash which made me very sad. I remember when I was little, I saw on TV a train in India and there were a lot of people on that train; on the roof, hooked aside and stuff like that. I was wondering how come that train can even go on tracks. After I watched news on TV, I decided to take a look what are the biggest train accidents that had ever happened in human history. I will share my findings with you my friends. I have listed 10 the most terrified accidents that happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Firozabad train disaster (358)

he Firozabad rail disaster occurred on August 20, 1995 on the near Firozabad on the Delhi-Kanpur section of India’s Northern Railway, at 02:55 when a passenger train ran into a train which had stopped after hitting a cow, killing 358 (although some sources put the death toll at over 400). The accident happened in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh; both trains were bound for the Indian capital, Delhi. The first train, the "Kalindi Express" from Kanpur struck a cow but was unable to proceed as its brakes were damaged. It was then struck from behind at a speed of 70 mph by the "Purushottam Express" from Puri. Three carrages of the Kanpur express were destroyed, the engine and front two carriages of the Puri train were derailed. Most of the 2200 passengers aboard the two trains were asleep at the time of the accident.

 

9. Al Ayyat train disaster (383)

The Al Ayyat train disaster happened at 02:00 on the morning of 20 February 2002 on a passenger train of eleven carriages, running from Cairo to Luxor. In its fifth carriage a cooking gas cylinder exploded and created a fire which spread as the train ran. Seven of its carriages, all third class, were burnt almost to cinders. The official figure given by officials at the time was of 383 people dead, all Egyptian. However, considering that 7 carriages were burnt to the ground and each carriage was packed with at least double the maximum carrying capacity of 150, this figure is considered by many to be a great underestimate. The dubious nature of the given number of deaths also stems from the fact that there was no proper passenger list, so accounting for those missing was almost an impossible job at the time. As well as this, the carriages were so badly burnt and the fire so intense that a huge number of corpses had simply been turned to ash. As there was no means of communication between the driver and the rear carriages, the driver did not know of the fire until about 2 hours after the fire had begun and so many people who attempted to flee from the overcrowded carriages were killed in the jump. Many leading Egyptian figures have commentated that the official figure of 383 dead is grossly inaccurate and was an attempt to lessen the damage done to the reputation of the government in the eyes of the Egyptian people. Many consider a figure of around 1000 to be closer to the actual number of dead.

 8. Awash train disaster (428)

On January 14, 1985 when a train derailed at Awash on the Addis Ababa to Djibouti line plunging four of its five carriages into a ravine; the crash was estimated to have killed at least 428 and injured 500 of the estimated 1,000 on board. It was the worst accident in Africa. It is believed that the cause of the crash was the excessive speed of the train round a curve on a bridge across the ravine. The derailment happened at 13:40 between Arba and Khora.

 

 7. Torre del Bierzo train disaster (200-500+)

The Torre del Bierzo rail disaster occurred on January 3, 1944 near the village of Torre del Bierzo in the El Bierzo region of Spain’s León province when three trains collided inside a tunnel. Although officially 78, the death toll at the time was estimated to be 200-250 but studies conducted more recently have estimated the death toll at over 500. At 20:30 the previous evening the Galicia mail express left Madrid bound for La Coruña consisting of 12 carriages hauled by two 4-8-0 ‘Mastodon’ steam locomotives. It was running two hours late when it arrived at Astorga and was having problems with its brakes; nine minutes being spent at Astorga while they were checked. Later one of the locomotives was removed due to a hot axle box. The train was now three hours late, and had serious problems with its brakes during the steep descent through Branuelas, but the fateful decision was made to continue. The train was scheduled to stop at Albares but failed to do so, despite all hand-brakes on the carriages being applied and sand being applied. The Albares station master immediately telephoned Torre del Bierzo to say that the train had lost its brakes on the steep descent. At Torre del Bierzo the station master ran for his office and attempts were made to put sleepers on the line to slow the runaway train but to no avail as it ran through with its whistle incessantly blowing and its brake shoes applied; heading for tunnel No 20, located just beyind the station.

Meanwhile a shunting engine and three carriages were travelling though the tunnel away from the station having been warned by the station master about the runaway mail train. The last two carriages were still in the tunnel when they were struck by the mail train; as were the first six carriages of the mail train which began to burn, their wood construction being ignited by the train gaslighting. Oblivious to the tragedy a coal train was approaching the tunnel from the opposite direction with 27 loaded waggons. The crash having destroyed the signaling cables, the signals were set at clear as the coal train left tunnel No 21. The unharmed driver of the shunting engine desperately tried to warn the oncoming coal train which managed to slow, but it still ploughed into the shunting locomotive’s train, killing the shunting engine driver and four railwaymen on the coal train. The fire burned for two days delaying any rescue effort and making the identification of most of the victims impossible.

Strict censorship at the time under the regime of General Franco in the wake of the Spanish Civil War meant that it received very little publicity at the time, and the official RENFE file on the accident has also been lost. Many people travelled without tickets so it was difficult to estimate the true number of passengers aboard, but survivors state that the train was packed, many travelling to the Christmas fair in Bembibre. It was only many years later that the scale of the accident was revealed and there is still some dispute over its actual magnitude, some sources maintaining a death toll between 200-250. Tunnel No. 20, the scene of the accident was closed in 1985 due to geological problems.

 

6. Balvano train disaster (521-600+)

Just after 6 P.M. on March 2, 1944 the locomotive No. 8017, reached Eboli, beyond Battipaglia. At about 11:40 P.M. the train carried many illegal passengers. The train chugged slowly upward another 4 miles to stop at the small Balvano station that lay between two long tunnels. A downhill train was having locomotive trouble. While No. 8017 waited for the "clear track ahead" signal, half of its 47 cars were in the lower tunnel wrapped in a blanket of black coal smoke left by its two locomotives. The tunnel was steeply graded and the freight train grossly overloaded with its passengers. The train stalled with almost all the cars inside the tunnel. The passengers and crew were overcome by the smoke and fumes so slowly that they failed to notice the dangers. Most of the few survivors were in the last few cars which were still in the open air. The main culprit was carbon monoxide gas produced as a by-product of combustion, and carbon monoxide poisoning is a well recognized danger when machines are used, or fires occur in enclosed environments. It combines with haemoglobin when inhaled, so the victim dies of anoxia or lack of oxygen. It is still the principal cause of death in mine disasters after a fire or explosion. There was little publicity at the time owing to the war, but more details became available in the 1950s when relatives of the dead victims pursued a court case against the railway company.

5. Ufa train disaster (575)

The Ufa train disaster happened on June 4, 1989 at 1:15 (local time) near the town of Asha in the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway. (Ufa is a much larger and commonly known city, which is situated not far from Asha). A liquefied petroleum gas explosion killed 575 and wounded 623 (some sources claim that up to 645 were killed and more than 700 wounded), making it the most deadly railway accident in Soviet history, as two trains passing each other threw sparks near a leaky pipeline. Both trains were carrying children; one returning from a holiday break on the Black Sea, one taking children there. The explosion was so powerful it blew out windows in Asha, eight miles (13 km) from the epicenter. The explosion is said to have been equal to 10 kilotons of TNT, almost as powerful as the Hiroshima explosion. Three hours before the explosion, engineers noticed a drop in the pressure, but they turned up the pressure back to normal instead of checking for leaks.

4. Ciurea train disaster (600-1000)

The Ciurea rail disaster occurred on 13 January 1917, at Ciurea station, Romania, a station with passing loop on the railway line from Iasi to Barlad. Between 600 and 1,000 passengers were killed. Approaching Ciurea from Barlad the line descends a steep bank some 10 miles in length between Barnova and Ciurea, the gradient in places being a slope of 1 in 15 (6.7%). At 1 PM a train of 26 carriages, loaded with soldiers and refugees fleeing from the advance of von Mackensen’s troops, left Barnova. Passengers were crowded on the carriage roofs and between the carriages above the buffers. When the train was moving a soldier closed the Westinghouse train pipe *censored*, rendering the train brakes inoperative. As the train began to descend the bank the driver was unable to apply the Westinghouse brake, and the train accelerated quickly. The straight line at the foot of the bank at Ciurea station was occupied by a second train, and the runaway train was switched to the right into the loop at high speed. The train derailed, only 2 of the 26 carriages remaining on the line, and caught fire burning down to a pile of twisted ironwork.

3. Modane train disaster (800-1000)

On 12 December 1917,  between 800-1000 French soldiers returning home on leave from fighting in North East Italy were killed in a catastrophic crash. During World War I there was a shortage of locomotives able to run in the area, so the decision was made to couple two trains, consisting of nineteen coaches carrying the troops, to a single 4-6-0 engine; of those coaches only the first three had air brakes, the remaining coaches only had hand brakes or no brakes at all. The driver initially refused to drive the engine with such an overloaded train, which was now four times the safety limit for the engine, but the driver was threatened with military discipline and the train continued. On its approach to Modane the train descended into a valley, the driver applied the brakes without effect due to the heavy load. After continuing with excessive speeds into the valley for nearly 4 miles at an estimated 75 mph the first coach derailed causing a pile-up that resulted in a fire. Because of the fire and impact, only 425 of the 800-1000 troops killed could be identified.

2. Bihar train disater (1000+)

In the Bihar train disaster on June 6, 1981, a passenger train carrying 800 or more passengers between Mansi and Saharsa, India derailed and plunged into the Bagmati river while it was crossing a bridge. After five days, over 200 bodies were recovered, with hundreds more missing that were feared washed away by the river. Estimates of total deaths range from 500 to 800 or more.
The cause of the accident is uncertain as there are multiple causes listed online:

• a cyclone
• flash flooding
• brake failure while trying to avoid hitting a water buffalo

 

1. Queen of the Sea train disaster (1700+)

The Queen of the Sea rail disaster occurred when a crowded passenger train was destroyed on a coastal railway in Sri Lanka by the tsunami which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, and resulted in the greatest loss of life in railroad history. More than 1,700 people died, surpassing the previous record set by the Bihar train disaster in India in 1981, when a train derailed and fell off a bridge, drowning about 800 people.

Due to the huge scale of the disaster, the authorities were unable to cope with the devastation, and emergency services and military forces were so stretched that immediate rescue was not an option. In fact, the Sri Lankan authorities had no idea where the train was for several hours, until it was spotted from the air. The local emergency services were destroyed, and it was a long time before help arrived. Dozens of people badly injured in the disaster died in the wreckage during the day, and many bodies were not retrieved for over a week. Some families descended on the area determined to find their relatives.

According to the Sri Lankan authorities, only a few dozen people on the train survived. The estimated death toll was at least 1,700 people, and probably over 2,000, although only approximately 900 bodies were recovered by the authorities, as many were swept out to sea or taken away unofficially by relatives. The town of Peraliya was also destroyed, losing hundreds of citizens to the waves and all but ten buildings. Over 200 of the bodies retrieved were not identified or claimed, and were buried three days later in a Buddhist ceremony near the torn railway line.