Catastrophes in the world top. Tragedies of the XX century (143 photos)

It is impossible to live past, dream about the future, you need to appreciate the present, rejoice in everybody's stay. The horrors that have suffered humanity in the twentieth century can not be forgotten. The most tragic events shocking fate lessons can be found in our review.

Catastrophes on water

The death of thousands of people on aquatic spaces is caused by different reasons: human factor, structural errors, military actions, natural elements. Consider the most ambitious in the number of victims of the tragedy, which occurred in the last century on the water:

1. "Goya". At a military ship confiscated by the Germans after the classes of Norwegian territories in the period of the Great Patriotic War, 7,000 people died. On April 16, 1945, Torpeda was sent to a powerful ship with a Russian submarine, as a result of which Goya was sank in the Baltic Sea.

2. Wilhelm Gustloff. The German ship is named after the Nazi party leader. At the time of construction, it was considered the largest ship in the world. Before the war it was used as a means for recreation. Sound the ship on January 30, 1945. The reason is the attack of the Soviet military with a submarine. The accurate composition of passengers is unknown, but according to the official version, 5,348 people died. On board were women and children.


3. Mont Blanc. On December 6, 1917, an explosion of a military French ship occurred in the Canadian Havan, which faced the "IMO" vessel (Norway). As a result of the fire managed to survive a little. Mortality - 2,000 people (identified 1,950 people), and the reason is a banal human factor. Not counting the militant era, this explosion was the most powerful in the history of mankind. About the terrible tragedy you can watch a film shot in Canada in 2003 - "destructive city".


4. "Bismarck". The German battleship Skils British Aviation on June 12, 1944 during the war. The number of victims amounted to 1,995 people.



The death of "Titanic"

At the time of commissioning, the ship was considered the most huge on Earth. The giant ship sank in the first flight swimming on April 15, 1912, faced with Iceberg.

Horrors and death in the air

In the middle of the twentieth century, air transportation gained massive. The active development of passenger aviation led to the ability of the death of a person in the sky compared with the "water" mortality. Here is a list of "bright" tragedies who have claimed the lives of many in no guilty of people:

1. Collision on Tenerife. The catastrophe occurred on March 27, 1977. Place Events - Canary Islands (Tenerif). The rock "meeting" of two liners was the cause of the death of 583 people. 61 people managed to escape in the tragedy. For the period of the twentieth century, this aircraft crash is the largest in terms of the number of civil aviation.


2. Catastrophe under Tokyo. On August 12, 1985, a Japanese liner 12 minutes after his takeoff lost control, having lost the vertical stabilizer. For 32 minutes, the crew struggled for the rescue of the aircraft in the air, but the collision with Mount Otsutak influenced the destructive outcome of the events. Died 520 people, and survived only 4. The catastrophe is called the largest in the history of "one aircraft".


3. Charch Dadri (city in India). Aviation crash occurred as a result of the collision of the flagship and Kazakhstan liners at an altitude of 4,109 meters. All passengers died, including the crew of both planes (only 349 people).


4. Aerial collapse under Paris. On March 3, 1974, a wide-visor airliner, built by the Turkish company, was due to the life of 346 people. A few minutes after the take-off, the cargo compartment door suddenly opened.


Explosive compression destroyed all control systems. The plane picketed and crashed into the forest. The investigation indicated the imperfection of the locking mechanism in the compartment. After, in many airlines there were changes in the structures of aircraft to avoid catastrophic repetitions.


5. Cork terrorist attack. In the direction of London, the flagship carrier of India became a victim of a cruel terrorist attack. Literally a few minutes before the arrival, an explosion happened on board the aircraft and all those who were in it were killed (329 people). In the history of Canada, this is the largest terrorist attack.

Tragedy on earth

Some tragedies that happened in the past century on Earth still cause concern and concern, continuing to destroy the health and life of ordinary residents, namely:

1. Bhopalic catastrophe. Technogenic tragedy is the largest in history. An accident occurred at the Chemical Plant in India (1984). 18,000 people died. 3,000 of the dead became victims of instant death, and the rest died in the next months and years after the tragedy. The cause of the terrible event could not be installed.


2. Chaps. On April 26, 1986, a major deadly accident occurred, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Ukraine). The emission of a huge number of radioactive substances was the death of hundreds of people, and not immediately, but gradually.


3. Piper Alpha. At the oil station in 1988, 167 people died (members of the personnel), 59 people - were lucky, they managed to survive, in the oil-producing industry, this catastrophe is the largest.


In addition to man-made tragedies in the twentieth century, many other shocking events occurred - a warrior, the total number of million victims of which is no longer counting: the First World War (1914-1818), civil war in Russia (1917-1923), World War II (1939 -1945), Korean War (1950-1053).

Natural disasters

1. Cyclone "Bhol". Disaster occurred in 1970. The tropical element covered several territories of Pakistan and Bengal, erased from the face of the city and small villages. Find out the exact number of dead citizens researchers failed (approximately 5,000,000 people).


2. Valdiv earthquake (1960 - Chile). Caused by the tsunami did not save many innocent residents. The number of victims reached several thousand people. In addition to the death, the natural phenomenon caused impressive damage to the affected territories (value assessment - $ 500 million).


3. Megatsuny on Alaska (1958). Earthquake, landslides, collapse of stones and ice into the water, the highest world tsunami. Element has a victim in the amount of 5,000,000 people.


Tsunami on Alaska

Catastrophes were always: environmental, man-made. In the last hundred years there have been a lot of them.

The largest catastrophes on the water

People cross the sea and oceans are not one hundred years. Throughout this time there were many shipwrecks.

For example, in 1915, the German submarine released the torpedo and blew up the passenger liner of Britain. It happened not far from the Irish coast. The ship went to the bottom in a matter of minutes. About 1,200 people died.

In 1944, the catastrophe occurred right in the Bombay port. During the unloading of the steamer, there was a powerful explosion. On the cargo vessel was explosives, gold bars, sulfur, wood and cotton. It is the burning cotton that scattered in a radius of one kilometer was the reason for the fire of all vessels in the port, warehouses and even many urban facilities. The city burned for two weeks. 1300 people died, they were wounded more than 2000. The port entered his working mode only 7 months after the catastrophe.

The most famous and large-scale catastrophe on the water is the collapse of the famous "Titanic". He went under the water during the commission of his first flight. The giant could not change the course when Iceberg appeared right in front of him. The liner sank, and with him and a half thousand people.

At the end of 1917, the clashes of French and Norwegian ships - Mont Blanc and IMO occurred. The French ship was full of explosive. The most powerful explosion along with the port destroyed the part of the city of Halifax. The consequences of this explosion in human lives: 2000 dead and 9000 wounded. This explosion is considered the most powerful until the appearance of nuclear weapons.


In 1916, the Germans torpedo the French vessel. 3130 people died. After the attack on the German hospital afloat, 3,600 people were gone from life "General Schtyben".

In early 1945, a submarine under the command of Marinesko released a torpedo to the German Liner "Wilhelm Gustlov", which passed passengers. Died at least 9,000 people.

The largest catastrophes of Russia

There were several disasters in our country, which in their scale are considered the largest in the history of the existence of the state. This includes an accident on the railway next to Ufa. On the pipeline, which was located near the railway canvas, an accident occurred. As a result, the fuel mixture accumulated in the air at the time when passenger compounds met, the explosion thundered. 654 people died and about 1000 were injured.


In Russia, the largest ecological catastrophe occurred not only in the country, but also around the world. We are talking about the Aral Sea, which practically dried. This was facilitated by many factors, including social and soil. The Aral Sea was not for some half a century. In the 60s of the last century, fresh waters of the Aral Sea inflows were used in many areas in agriculture. By the way, the Aral Sea was considered one of the largest lakes in the world. Now His place is having land.


Another indelible trace in the history of the Fatherland left the flood in 2012 in the city of Krymsk Krasnodar Territory. Then in two days it fell so much precipitation how much falls over 5 months. Because of the natural cataclysm, 179 people died, and 34 thousand local residents suffered.


The largest nuclear catastrophe

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 entered the history of not only the Soviet Union, but also the whole world. The power unit of the station exploded. As a result, the most powerful emission of radiation into the atmosphere occurred. To present, within a radius of 30 km from the epicenter of the explosion, the alienation zone is considered. There are still no accurate data on the consequences of this terrible catastrophe.


Also, the nuclear explosion occurred in 2011, when a nuclear reactor on Fukushima came out of the system. It happened because of a strong earthquake in Japan. A huge amount of radiation got into the atmosphere.

The largest catastrophes in the history of mankind

In 2010, the oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. After a stunning fire, the platform quickly went under water, but oil poured into the ocean for another 152 days. According to the calculations of scientists, the area covered with the oil film was 75 thousand square kilometers.


The most terrible world catastrophe in the number of dead was the explosion of the plant for the production of chemicals. It happened in the Indian city of Bhapol in 1984. 18 thousand people died, a large number of people received irradiation.

In 1666, a fire occurred in London, which is still considered the most powerful fire in history. Fire erased from the face of the Earth 70 thousand houses and carried out the life of 80 thousand inhabitants of the city. 4 days left for fire elimination.

Below is a list of ten largest natural disasters in the history of mankind. The rating is based on the number of dead.

Earthquake in Aleppo

Number of dead: about 230,000

Opens the rating of the largest natural disasters in the history of mankind earthquake in Aleppo magnitude 8.5 points on the Richter scale, which occurred in several stages of the blizzards of the city of Aleppo in Northern Syria on October 11, 1138. It is often referred to as the fourth earthquake in history in the number of dead. According to the Mentions of the Damascus Chronicler of Ibn Al-Kalanisi as a result of this catastrophe, approximately 230,000 people died.

Earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004


Number of victims: 225,000-300 000

The underwater earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean at the West Coast of North Sumatra, 250 kilometers southeast of the city of Gang Aceh. It is considered one of the strongest earthquakes of the XX-XXI centuries. Its magnitude according to different estimates amounted to 9.1 to 9.3 points on the Richter scale. Arriving at a depth of about 30 km, the earthquake caused a number of devastating tsunami, the height of which exceeded 15 meters. These waves led to enormous destruction and took life, according to different estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people in 14 countries. The coast of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand suffered the greatest of the tsunami.


Number of dead: 171,000-230 000

Dama Balziao - Dam on the River Zhuhe, Henan Province, China. On August 8, 1975, due to the powerful Typhoon Nina, the dam was destroyed by providing the flood and a huge wave of 10 km wide and a height of 3-7 meters. This catastrophe in various estimates claimed life from 171,000 to 230,000 people, of which about 26,000 died directly from flooding. The rest died of subsequent epidemics and hunger. In addition, 11 million people lost their homes.


The number of victims: 242 419

Tangshan earthquake of magnitude 8.2 points on the Richter scale is the most deadly earthquake of the XX century. It happened on July 28, 1976 in the Chinese city of Tangshan at 3:42 local time. His gipcenter was located near the Millionaire industrial city at a depth of 22 km. Repeated shocks with a capacity of 7.1 caused even more harm. According to the government of China, the number of victims amounted to 242,419 people, but according to other sources, about 800,000 inhabitants died, 164,000 were seriously injured. Earthquakes also suffered populated areas at a distance of 150 kilometers from the epicenter, among them Tianjin and Beijing. More than 5,000,000 houses were completely destroyed.

Flooding in Kaifina


The number of dead: 300 000-378 000

Flooding in Kaifyne is a technogenic catastrophe, which first collapsed on Kaifyn. This city is located on the south coast of the Juanhe River in the Chinese province of Henan. In 1642, the city flooded the waters of the "yellow river", after the army of the Mini dynasty opened the dams to prevent the offensive of the troops of Dzychhan. Then from the flood and the subsequent hunger and the plague died about 300,000-378,000 people.

Indian cyclone - 1839


Number of dead: more than 300,000

The fifth place in the ranking of the largest natural disasters in history occupies Indian Cyclone - 1839. On November 16, 1839, 12 meter wave caused by a powerful storm, completely destroyed the large port city of Coring, in Andhra Pradesh, India. Then more than 300,000 people died. After the catastrophe, the city was never restored. Now in its place there is a small village with the population (2011) - 12,495 inhabitants.


The number of dead: approximately 830,000

This earthquake of magnitude approximately 8 points occurred on January 23, 1556 in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, during the reign of the Ming dynasty. More than 97 districts were injured from it, on an area of \u200b\u200b840 km everything was destroyed, and in some areas 60% of the population died. In total, the Chinese earthquake took the lives of approximately 830,000 people - more than any other earthquake in the history of mankind. A huge number of victims are due to the fact that the predominant part of the provincial population lived in the Lens caves, which were destroyed or flooded with the village streams immediately after the first jolts.


Number of victims: 300 000-500 000

the most destructive tropical cyclone in history that struck the territory of Eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Indian state West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It was estimated from it to killed 300-500 thousand people, mainly as a result of a storm tide with a height of 9 m, which flooded a plurality of low-locked islands in Delta Ganges. The most from the cyclone suffered the sub-houses of Thany and Tazumuddin, more than 45% of the population died.


The number of dead: about 900,000

This destructive flood occurred on September 28, 1887 in Henan Province, China. Wine all the heavy rains, smashing here for many days. Due to the rain, the water level in the River Juanhe rose and destroyed the dam, near the city of Zhengzhou. Water quickly spread throughout the northern part of China, to the territory of approximately 130,000 square meters. km, while taking about 900 thousand people at the same time, and leaving no longer about 2 million


Number of victims: 145 000-4 000 000

The largest natural disaster in the world is a flood in China, or rather a series of floods that occurred in 1931 in the territory of South-Central China. This catastrophe was preceded by a drought, which lasted from 1928 to 1930. However, the next winter was very snowy, in the spring fell a lot of precipitation, besides during the summer months, the country suffered from heavy rains. All these facts contributed to the fact that the three largest rivers of China: Yangtze, Juiche, Juanhe out from the shores, taking their lives in various data from 145 thousand to 4 million people. Also, the largest natural disaster in history caused the cholera and typhoid epidemic, and also led to hunger, during which cases of decorating and cannibalism were recorded.

This period became destructive for the densely populated regions of South-Central China. A couple of years before that, drought reigned in the region, but after the snowy winter, a thaw began, and abundant rains were shedding to Earth. The rivers came out of the banks, but the shower did not stop in summer: their peak came to August 1931. The incredible activity of cyclones - 9 for one July against ordinary 2 cyclones per year - made its contribution to the complication of the already catastrophic situation in the region.

The result of the weather anomaly was the flood of unprecedented scale. The largest rivers of the country (Huanghe, Yangtze and Juiche) came out of the banks, so by the middle of August the water level exceeded the norm by 16 meters! Nanjing was almost completely under water, and the destruction of the lamb of the Great Channel took the lives of almost 200,000 people - sleeping citizens simply washed away with roaring water flows.

But on this disaster of the Chinese people did not end. Due to the huge number of decomposing bodies and high humidity, epidemics of typhoids and cholera began, and the refugees suffering from hunger were forced to go to extreme measures and eat their relatives. According to various estimates, one year died from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 people.

1918: Spanish flu


The famous "Spaniard" became perhaps the most massive pandemic of influenza in history. In the period from 1918 to 1919, 29.5% of the population of the entire planet suffered from it - about 550,000,000 people were infected. The fifth of them as a result passed away.

The epidemic took place at the end of the First World War and quickly eclipsed in the number of victims and deadly even this largest (at that time) armed conflict in the world. It was the war researchers that the epidemic adopted such a tremendous scale: antisanitary, hunger, crowded people in camps - all this gave the fertile soil to spread the virus. Pandemic received its name due to the fact that the first strong outbreak of the disease was registered in Spain.

1347: Black death in Europe


Probably, there is no longer any person who would not have heard of this notorious epidemic of the plague. Its source still remains unknown. Historians came to the conclusion that the massive mass, who took a truly enormous scale, arose as a result of a variety of factors. Unstable climate (hunger and drought, and then sudden hurricanes and shins in China) led to the fact that the hordes of small rodents came out of the deserted wastelighted closer to human housing in search of refuge and food. The rats themselves do not suffer from the disease, but are its natural carriers, and therefore in the conditions of antisanitarian and hunger the epidemic quickly accepted the local, and then global character.

Fishing China and India, black death reached the Great Silk Road to Low Eve Done and Volga. Having twisted the Golden Horde, the disease settled in the Caucasus and in the Crimea, and from there the Genoese brought her to Europe - probably due to the same ship rats. Cold and Livni, as well as the epidemics of natural smallpox and leprosy, which shortly before Europe lasted Europeans, weakened their immunity and made extremely susceptible to infection.

As a result, black death calmed down only by 1353, having taken about 60,000,000 people in the total life worldwide around the world.

1201: Syrian earthquake


In July 1201, Egypt and Syria shuddered against an incredibly powerful earthquake leaving after themselves unprecedented destruction. His epicenter was in the south-west of Syria, but seismic waves reached Mesopotamia, Sicily and Egypt. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean, almost every city suffered from this catastrophe, the capacity of which modern experts are estimated at 8 points on the Richter scale. In total, as a result of the "trembling of the Earth", 1,000,000 people died. The cause of such strong jesters, geologists consider the result of the removal of the sea.

541 Year: Justinian Plague


In the eight centuries, there was so deadly disease in the world to the world that historians assigned to him the status of a pandemic - a global epidemic. She covered all Asia, North Africa, Middle East and, of course, Europe. The ratios of the tragedy were already familiar to us rats and fleas, which came from Egypt and countries of the East to Constantinople in the trums of ships transported grain. The causative agent (Bacillus Y. Pestis) penetrates the blood of a man with a bite bite: for one bite, the carrier can transmit up to 24,000 bacteria, although only 3 is enough to infect.

At the peak of the epidemic, the plague carried 10,000 lives per day. There were so many dead that they did not have time to bury - they just folded on the streets, as a result of which the corpses began to rot and the disease spread even faster. The foci of the epidemic periodically arose over the past 200 years after its attenuation, although the level of toxicity over time and became weaker.

536: the most terrible year in history


Surprisingly, right? How can I compare the middle of the VI century with mass epidemics and destructive cataclysms? However, recently scientists came to the conclusion that this year was the worst for the entire history of mankind. What is the reason for this solution?

Historian and archaeologist McCormick, who heads the initiative of Harvard University on the science of the human past, is confident that "this year became the beginning of one of the worst periods in history." It is difficult to disagree with this: the mysterious fog plunged Europe, the Middle East and part of Asia into the pitch darkness - for 18 months and day, and at night, an impenetrable darkness stood outside the window. The Byzantine historian of the proof was wrote that "the Sun published light without brightness, like the Moon, throughout the year." At this time, the temperature fell to 1.5 ° C, occasionally rising to 2.5 ° C - the coldest decade began over the past 2500 years. It was it that it became the beginning of the global climate change, which became the fertile soil for all cataclysms and epidemics of the upcoming centuries.

In the summer, in the sunny regions, China fell snow, and Ireland covered hunger because of an irrevengeant. Bubonic and Justinianova plague destroyed according to various data from 1/3 to half of the population of the Eastern Roman Empire, having accelerating it collapse. Only recently, scientists have finally managed to find out the reason for such a catastrophe. After conducting a supercount analysis of ice samples taken from the Swiss glacier, the Maevsky Paul Maevsky team from the Institute of Climate Change University of Maine came to the conclusion that everything became a strong eruption of the volcano in Iceland, who had a huge amount of ash in the atmosphere. In 540 and 547, two more eruptions followed, and then the plague came - and Europe was plunged into the most real "dark" century.

As it turned out, the eruption of volcanoes was thrown into the atmosphere of sulfur, bismuth and other chemically active substances. From the combination forms a dense veil of the type of aerosol, which reflects the sunlight back into space and, as a result, significantly cools the planet. Scientists have discovered that almost every cold summer over the past 2500 years is associated with volcanic emissions.

People cross the sea and oceans are not one hundred years. Throughout this time there were many shipwrecks.

For example, in 1915, the German submarine released the torpedo and blew up the passenger liner of Britain. It happened not far from the Irish coast. The ship went to the bottom in a matter of minutes. About 1,200 people died.

In 1944, the catastrophe occurred right in the Bombay port. During the unloading of the steamer, there was a powerful explosion. On the cargo vessel was explosives, gold bars, sulfur, wood and cotton. It is the burning cotton that scattered in a radius of one kilometer was the reason for the fire of all vessels in the port, warehouses and even many urban facilities. The city burned for two weeks. 1300 people died, they were wounded more than 2000. The port entered his working mode only 7 months after the catastrophe.

The most famous and large-scale catastrophe on the water is the collapse of the famous "Titanic". He went under the water during the commission of his first flight. The giant could not change the course when Iceberg appeared right in front of him. The liner sank, and with him and a half thousand people.

At the end of 1917, the clashes of French and Norwegian ships - Mont Blanc and IMO occurred. The French ship was full of explosive. The most powerful explosion along with the port destroyed the part of the city of Halifax. The consequences of this explosion in human lives: 2000 dead and 9000 wounded. This explosion is considered the most powerful until the appearance of nuclear weapons.

In 1916, the Germans torpedo the French vessel. 3130 people died. After the attack on the German hospital afloat, 3,600 people were gone from life "General Schtyben".

In early 1945, a submarine under the command of Marinesko released a torpedo to the German Liner "Wilhelm Gustlov", which passed passengers. Died at least 9,000 people.

Catastrophes on water

The death of thousands of people on aquatic spaces is caused by different reasons: human factor, structural errors, military actions, natural elements. Consider the most ambitious in the number of victims of the tragedy, which occurred in the last century on the water:

1. "Goya". At a military ship confiscated by the Germans after the classes of Norwegian territories in the period of the Great Patriotic War, 7,000 people died. On April 16, 1945, Torpeda was sent to a powerful ship with a Russian submarine, as a result of which Goya was sank in the Baltic Sea.

Ship "Goya"

2. Wilhelm Gustloff. The German ship is named after the Nazi party leader. At the time of construction, it was considered the largest ship in the world. Before the war it was used as a means for recreation. Sound the ship on January 30, 1945. The reason is the attack of the Soviet military with a submarine. The accurate composition of passengers is unknown, but according to the official version, 5,348 people died. On board were women and children.

Village "Wilhelm Gustloff"

3. Mont Blanc. On December 6, 1917, an explosion of a military French ship occurred in the Canadian Havan, which faced the "IMO" vessel (Norway). As a result of the fire managed to survive a little. Mortality - 2,000 people (identified 1,950 people), and the reason is a banal human factor. Not counting the militant era, this explosion was the most powerful in the history of mankind. About the terrible tragedy you can watch a film shot in Canada in 2003 - "destructive city".

Ship "Mont Blanc"

4. "Bismarck". The German battleship Skils British Aviation on June 12, 1944 during the war. The number of victims amounted to 1,995 people.

Bismarck battle at the bottom

The death of "Titanic"

At the time of commissioning, the ship was considered the most huge on Earth. The giant ship sank in the first flight swimming on April 15, 1912, faced with Iceberg.

See also:

Cruelty of nature

The most powerful earthquake destroyed part of Hait Island in 2010, the magnitude of which was 7 points. The first shocks were registered on January 12, 20 kilometers from the capital of Haiti. A number of strongest jolts continued to shock with magnitude of 5.9 points.
After a terrible shaking more than 3 million people remained without a home. 60% of residential premises and many public buildings, such as schools, hospitals, cathedrals, were destroyed.

The number of those who died during a disaster and under the rubble was 222 570 thousand people, wounded 311,000 thousand people, and about 1000 people who did not find.

The most terrible technogenic catastrophes

To such catastrophes affecting their destructive consequences, the population of the entire planet, first of all, should be attributed to an accident at the Chernobyl NPP. During the explosion of the fourth nuclear reactor, it was completely destroyed. Work on the liquidation of the consequences is still not completed. After 26 April 1986, all people were evacuated from the disaster in a radius of 30 km - 135,000 people and 35,000 goals of livestock. A protected exclusion zone was created. From radioactive substances in the air, Ukraine, Belarus, West of Russia suffered most of all. In other countries, an increase in radioactive background was also noted. More than 600,000 people participated in the elimination of the consequences of this catastrophe.

The largest earthquake in Japan, which took place on March 11, 2011, and then tsunami, served as a radiation accident at Fukushima-1 nuclear power plants, which has the highest, seventh level. Consideration of the power supply and backup diesel generators were output, which caused a failure in the cooling system, and then the melting of the active zone of reactors by 1, 2, 3 of power units. All financial damage, which includes decontamination work, compensation for victims and forced migrants, is approximately 189 billion dollars.

Another catastrophe, which affected the state of the entire biosphere of the Earth, is called the Deepwater Horizon oil platform explosion, which happened on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill caused by an accident became the largest in the history of the United States. At the time of the explosion itself and in the case, it was then a fire on a semi-submerged installation, 11 people died and 17 of 126 were injured, which at that time were on the platform. Later two more died. Oil flowed into the bay within 152 days, everything fell into the bay of more than 5 million barrels. This technogenic catastrophe has provided a detrimental impact on the ecology of the whole area. Different types of marine animals, fish and birds were injured. And in the north of the Gulf of Mexico, in the same year, increased mortality of cetaceans. In addition to oil, on the surface of water (the size of the spot reached 75,000 km²) a large number of underwater oil loops were formed, the length of which reached 16 km, and the width and height - respectively, 5 km and 90 m.

These are only a few terrible accidents that can be classified as the most terrible catastrophes in the history of mankind. But there were still others, sometimes less well-known, which brought people a lot of destruction and trouble. Often, these catastrophes were caused by a war or a whole series of accidents, and in some cases the grief brought the destructive power of nature.

See also:

The strongest earthquake in the world: the rage of nature

Mass destruction of sparrows in China

Despite the fact that we do not bring in our list of catastrophes caused by targeted actions of people, this case is an exception, since it is caused by banal stupidity and insufficient knowledge of ecology. Nevertheless, this case fully deserves the title of one of the most terrible catastrophes of the world.

Within the framework of the economic policy of the "Big Jump", a large-scale struggle against agricultural pests was carried out, among which the Chinese authorities singled out the four worst - mosquitoes, rats, flies and sparrows.

Employees of the Chinese Research Institute of Zoology calculated that due to the sparrow during the year, the volume of grain was lost, with which it would be possible to feed about thirty-five million people. Based on this, the plan for the destruction of these birds was developed, which was approved by Mao Zeden on March 18, 1958.

All the peasants actively began to hunt the birds. The most effective method was not to give them to fall on the ground. For this, adults and children shouted, beat in Thai, swung at sixties, rags, etc. This made it possible to scare sparrows and not give them to land on the ground for fifteen minutes. As a result, the birds just fell out.

A year later, the hunt for sparrow crop really increased. However, the caterpillars, locusts, and other pests who eaten the shoots began to actively come true. This led to the fact that in the year the crops fell greatly, and hunger came, which led to death from 10 to 30 million people.

Fire demonstration in Jilingham


From year to year, fire jilingham, Kent, England, build a kind of wood and canvas, for the annual popular fire fighting demonstration. Every year, several boys are selected to take part in the demonstration. July 11, 1929, 9 boys, aged 10 to 14, as well as 6 firefighters, moved to the participants of the wedding party, rose to the third floor of the "Houses". According to the plan, the firefighters had to light a smoke checker on the first floor, save "celebrating" with the help of rods and stairs, and then set fire to a blank house, demonstrating fire hoses in action. However, by mistake, the real fire was first lit. Spectators who took the truly burning bodies for mannequins were welcomed and applauded, without suspecting a true fire. That day all 15 demonstration participants died.

Tanker Wheel Exson Valtez

On March 23, 1989, from the Terminal in the Alaskan Port, Valdiz sailed completely loaded oil tanker "Eksen Valtez", which was heading to the California port of Long Beach. Withdrawing a ship from Valdiz, Lotsman handed over to the control of the tanker captain Joseph Jeffrey, and that time was "bench". In the sea there were icebergs, so the captain was forced to devale from the course, onceing about this coast guard. Having received permission from the latter, he changed the course, and at 23 o'clock left the logging, leaving the ship management of the third assistant and the sailor, who before that had already defended their watches and needed a 6-hour holiday. In fact, the tanker was driven by autopilot, guided by the navigation system.
Before leaving, the captain instructed the assistant, which two minutes after passing the island's traverse, you need to change the course. The assistant handed over this orders to the sailor, but he himself was late, or he was finished with his execution, but in half the first night, on March 24, the tanker crashed into Blytet Reef. In the ocean, 40,000 cubic meters of oil resulted in the ocean, and environmentalists believe that much more. Pollution was subjected to 2400 km of the coastline, which made this accident of one of the most significant environmental disasters in the world.

Solochi (in America this phenomenon is called a tornado) is called a fairly stable atmospheric whirlwind, most often arising in thunderstorm clouds. He is a visa ...

Catastrophe Empire State Building


On Saturday, July 28, 1945, the veteran of the army took off at the US Air Force Bombarder B-25 Mitchell, from Massachusetts in New Jersey, there were also a second pilot and a young sailor on board. Due to the fog, visibility was bad. An hour later, people on the streets of Manhattan heard a stunning Ryiv of the motor and saw a bomber whoars among skyscrapers. Some time later, he crashed into the Empire State Building. The fragments of the aircraft fell to the ground. One of the engines struck the hole on the 78th floor, passing through seven walls and departing in the opposite side of the building. The second engine hit the elevator shaft and fell into the basement. When the aircraft fuel tank exploded, the fire covered 6 floors. Fortunately, not all offices worked on Saturday, only 11 people and three passengers of the aircraft were killed.

Circular concordia


On the fourteenth of January 2012, the list of terrible incidents in the world replenished with another one. Near the Italian Tuscany, the Costa Concordia cruise liner ran into the ledge of the rock, as a result of which he had a sample of seventy meters sample. At this time, most passengers were in the restaurant.


The right side of the liner began immersing into the water, then he threw it out on bells 1 km from the crash site. There were more than 4,000 people on the ship, which were evacuated all night, but they could not save themselves: 32 people still died and a hundred were injured.

Costa Concordia - Wrecked eyewitnesses (video)

The most terrible air crash

The rating "The most terrible plane crashes" is headed by Tenerife. Fat collision 2 Boeing-747 aircraft belonging to different companies (Boeing-747-206B - KLM airline brainstorming, performed the next flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - the property of Pan American, fulfilled the flight 1736), it happened on 03/27/1977 on the island of the Canary Group , Tenerife, on the runway of the Los Roodoshi airport. Many people died - 583 people who were in these two aircraft. What exactly was the cause of such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the imposition of adverse circumstances at each other played a cruel joke.

In that ill-fated Sunday spring day, Los Rodeos airport was very overloaded. Both aircraft performed maneuvers on a narrow take-off landing strip, including complex turns at 135-180 degrees. Interference with the radio communication with the dispatcher and between pilots, bad weather conditions and visibility, the wrong interpretation of the teams of the Aviadpetcher, the strong Spanish emphasis of the dispatcher - all this inevitably led to trouble. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the team of the dispatcher to interrupt the takeoff, while the second Boeing commander reports that their huge plane is still moving along the runway. After fourteen seconds, an inevitable clash occurred, the fuselage of the Boeing Pan American was very damaged, some of the breaks were formed, and some passengers were saved through them. Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell on the strip 150 meters from the collision point and drove up the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft ignited.

All 248 people from the Boeing Klm aircraft died. In the second aircraft, 326 passengers and nine crew members died. The American Star of Playboy magazine - actress and model Yves Meyer died in this worst aircraft crash.

Causes of aircraft crash

As we have already identified, the so-called is still leading among them. human factor. However, along with them, there are a number of other reasons.

Sometimes, the catastrophe occurs due to a number of irreparable action of the crew, conjugate with the failure of part or some separate equipment systems on board.

In essence, they are only 3:

  • human factor;
  • technical difficulites;
  • other reasons (bad weather conditions, etc.)

The first factor in turn is divided three subferences: Error crew members (FAC, second pilot, bornemaker), terrestrial service error (dispatcher) and terrorist actions.

Almost every second case of the aircraft crash occurs through the fault of the pilots. There is a whole complex of different consequences.

Passenger liners pilots have become too relying on the technique.

Firstly, with the development of technologies, pilots begin to rely too much for the technique. After all, the plane goes on the autopilot and is fully regulated by the technique.

But in the case of emergency situations, the pilots take control over themselves, and in this case it turns out that they have no sufficient skills to manage the aircraft themselves.

Secondly, do not cost to bypass the mental state of the pilots. Although they all pass medical examination

And immediately before the flight, they are also consulted with a doctor, but this is the physical examination.

As it is not scary, but in the history of passenger aviation there were cases of suicide. When the pilot decides to commit suicide, saboting the air control.

As for the dispatcher error, then they are also not uncommon. In general, this work that requires great concentration, collens and care. One second delay can entail an aircraft catastrophe.

The aircraft lead a total of 20 dispatchersBut the mistake of only one of them may entail irreparable consequences.

Different dispatchers are responsible for takeoff and landing of the aircraft.

The actions of terrorists, recently, increasingly provoke disasters. Moreover, it is not even always possible to accurately establish what happened precisely by the fault of the actions of extremist groups.

Technical problems are in second place causes a plane crash. The failure of individual systems, engines or stopping the work of the on-board computer - all this can happen with a completely any aircraft, despite the careful and numerous checks.

Other reasons include adverse weather conditions, the possibility of a collision of the aircraft with birds, etc.

It seems that the bird is very small, but if they are encountered with an airplane in the air, they can leave huge dents and damage.

Gas reservoir explosion in Pittsburgh


In a huge cylindrical gasometer, the largest in the world at that time, which was in the heart of the industrial center of Pittsburgh, was discovered. On the morning of November 14, 1927, the repairmen began searching for samples using a soldering lamp with an open flame. Approximately at 10 am, they found leakage. As a result, the tank containing about 5 million cubic feet of natural gas, rose into the air like a balloon and exploded. Huge pieces of metal, fly away from a kilometer, and the joint effects of air pressure and fire destroyed everything within a square mile. Then 28 people died, hundreds were injured, the damage estimates $ 4 million dollars.

Japan, August 12, 1985

The most terrible air crashes of the world most often happen due to the fault of technical problems or human factor. In August 1985, the Airbus Boeing 747 suffered a terrible wreck in the vicinity of Tokyo. He lost control, as a result of which ran into a mountain peak. 520 people died, and Japan could not recover from shock for a long time. The press persistently demanded that the owners of the airline careful investigation and punishment of the guilty.

With one of the dead, a letter was found, describing everything that happened in an airplane in front of the tragedy. The man said goodbye to his relatives and loved ones, carefully put the time, then put a letter to the driver's license, which removed into the rear pocket.

The reason for the accident was the fact that in twelve minutes after lifting into the air the aircraft fell off the vertical stabilizer on the tail. The crew was able to support uncontrollable aerobus in the air for another half an hour, but the tragedy was not avoided.

Only 4 people survived the plane crash

Panic in the Baptist Church


Three thousand people - mostly blacks, gathered at the Baptist Church of Shiloh Baptist Church Birmingham, Alabama, September 19, 1902 to listen to the appeal of the Washington Taliaofer Booker. The brick building of the Church was erected quite recently. A steep staircase, laid out in a brick, led from the entrance doors to a part of the liturgy. After the speech of Washington, the passage began over the free places, and the word "Fight" (Fight) was taken for the word "Fire" (fire). All the parishioners, went into panic escape to the stairs. Those who reached it were first, began to push back, and they began to fall. Others fell right on them until a bunch of 4 meters high of the hole was formed, completely barricading passage.

Attempts by Washington and servants of the Church to call people to calmly did not bring the result, they could only obversely observe how they were taken and sisters either chuckled, or were flooded to death. In fact, there was no fire, nor even fights, however, 115 people died.

Separation earthquake in 1988


On December 7, 1988, the list of "The Best Castra in the World" was replenished with another, which occurred in Armenian Speet. In this tragic day, underground shocks are literally for half a minute "erased" from the face of the earth, Leninakan, Stepanavan and Kirovan destroyed beyond recognition. A total of twenty-one city and three hundred fifty villages were injured.


In the very seitak, the earthquake was valid at ten points, a nine blessing was collapsed to Leninakan, and an eight-blessed one, almost the rest of Armenia - six-walled elements. Seismologists calculated that during this earthquake, the energy was released, corresponding to the strength of the ten exploded atomic bombs. The wave caused by this tragedy was recorded by scientific laboratories of almost all over the world.


This natural catastrophe is 25,000 people deprived of life, 140000 - health, and 514000 - roofs over their heads. Forty percent of the republic's industry failed, schools, hospitals, theaters, museums, cultural houses, automotive and railways were destroyed.


Military, doctors, public figures of the whole country and abroad, both near and distant countries, were called to the rescue. Humanitarian aid around the world was actively going. Throughout the victims of the tragedy, tents, field kitchens and medplexes were deployed.


The most sad and instructive in this situation that the scale and sacrifice of this terrible misfortune could be many times less if the seismic activity of this region was taken into account and all buildings were erected taking into account these features. Inappropriate rescue services also made their contribution

Tragic days: Speet earthquake (video)

Ukraine, July 17, 2014

During hostilities in the Donetsk region, the Malaysian liner Boeing 777 was shot down, returning from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The plane collapsed to the ground near the village of Grabovo, at the same time absolutely all that were inside, almost 300 people were killed. This is the largest aircraft crash since the times of the terrorist attack in the USA 2001. The Ukrainian side completely denies its involvement in the event, while accusing Russia.

The plane flew over Ukraine at an altitude of 9.5 km, later than 10 km. At 14:00 15 minutes, the liner stopped responding to the dispatcher requests, it was 50 km to the Russian-Ukrainian border. According to plan, he had to cross the border at 17:25. There was no disaster signals before the catastrophe.

Last minute aircraft fragments were found on the territory of Ukraine, scattered within a radius of 15 km

Catastrophe on submarine Kursk


The list of catastrophes, for a long time of remembered residents of our country, would be incomplete without mentioning the atomic underwater rocket cruiser "Kursk", sunken in the Barents Sea. 12.08.2000 Submarine, who was at the exercises at the Battime Polygon, did not communicate. Two days later, the command made a statement that the submarine lay down on the bottom. When examining the scene of the incident, it turned out that the APL destroyed the front of the corps, and it entered the bottom at the angle of forty degrees, and the rescue capsule was out of order. Already then it became obvious that the chances of salvation are minimal.

Rescue operation began on August 15. Norwegian vessel and deep-water devices took part in it. Despite the joint efforts of Russian, British and Norwegian specialists, the crew of the submarines failed to save. On August 21, the divers were able to get inside the vessel, which was completely flooded. Alive no one left, 118 people are listed in the list of dead. During the investigation, it was possible to find out that the explosion was brought to the crash. The boat was covered by fire, and it was filled with water in less than 10 hours. In the ship's magazine, data on freelance situations are not recorded.

2001 year Kira Ivanova

Soviet female figure skating for a long time was considered a shame of the country. And only the appearance Elena Vytorezova Warmed hearts of fans. But Lena paid the expensive price for early successes, the joint disease forced her to leave.
An example was infectious. And in 1984, for the first time, the Soviet athlete takes bronze at the Olympic Games. It was 21-year-old Kira Ivanova.

Figure Kira Ivanova. Source: Photoxronics TASS

What life can be so happy? Yes, only the ball, the prince and all that. But - did not happen. Results went to the decline, she became a coach. Then the sister of Cyrus committed suicide, two marriages of the girl broke off. Increasingly said that the former champion Ivanov was drinking.

Finally, on December 20, 2001, her corpse discover in its Moscow apartment. She was dead for two days. What happened is unknown. But the famous Kira Knightley called in honor of the Soviet athlete ...

So goes terrestrial glory.

France, March 3, 1974

The terrible aircraft crash occurred on this day. The DC-10 liner dropped at the Orly airfield in Paris. It was the next day after a significant rugby match, and hundreds of fans now hurried to return home. Fortunately, not all the tickets were excavated, there were almost two hundred vacancies. On board it turned out 345 people along with the crew members. The planting process was slightly delayed, so the departure occurred 10 minutes later than planned.

At an altitude of 7 km, the door of the back compartment was revealed - the castle was closed unreliable. The door took the wind along with part of the trim. Due to decompression inside the aircraft, a whirlwind burst into the aircraft, which took two rows of seats along with people. Pilots did not immediately realize what was happening. All three motors control knobs were transferred to small gas mode. The autopilot disabling happened. After that, the liner sharply threw on the left side, at the same time turning the nose to the ground.

There were no survivors in the plane crash

Pilots could not cope with the control, since the mechanisms were out of order. After 10 seconds after the start of the accident, the liner rushed to the ground with a speed of 580 km / h, absolutely not led by control, and after 77 seconds he ran into a slope of the mountain, cropped trees. The accident was so strong that there was absolutely nothing left of the plane and its passengers, there was nothing to burn. In an attempt to find the largest details in the forest, one of the chassis racks was discovered.

Place 1 Autumn 2001, terrorist attack on board the aircraft

The largest aircraft crash in the world was committed by the fault of a terrorist organization, which was named Al-Qaeda, September 11, 2001. In the terrible September day, terrorists seized 4 air transport at once, on board which were only civilians and the crew. The 2 airliner were redirected to terrorists in the American towers known to the whole world to roll them. The third aircraft was forced to push the Pentagon building. Fourth air transport The terrorist organization redesigned to Pennsylvania. In this state and the latter civil aircraft worked out. These largest plane crashs in total took the lives of 2977 people, the victims of the catastrophe were:

  1. Passengers airliners.
  2. Commands of crews.
  3. People who participated in the salvation of victims of the crash of aircraft.

After analyzing the statistics of a plane crash, it can be concluded that the crash can occur due to the technical fault of airliners, the human factor, unforeseen situations. It is these moments that need to constantly control to avoid the emergence of terrible tragedies.

Ship catastrophe Admiral Nakhimov


Admiral Nakhimov

On August 31, 1986, Admiral Nakhimov was in the port of Novorossiysk. Passengers tired by hot weather returned after excursions to the cabins. The ship is greatly heated in this hot day, and people hurried to open the portholes. At 10 pm, the ship went to Sochi. Weather on this summer evening stood magnificent: the calm sea is similar to the mill pond, a weak wind blew, visibility was good. At the same time, in Novorossiysk followed Valvalok "Peter Vashev", transporting thirty thousand tons of grain. A team was obtained on the baller, skip the cruise liner.

An hour after the departure of "Admiral Nakhimov", I ran into the dry cargo ship "Peter Vashev". The blow came to the right side of the passenger ship. The strong destruction of the hull led to the fact that the motor ship completely plunged under water for eight minutes. At such a quick immersion affected the unlocked portholes and waterproof bulkheads, which were also left open. The incorrect acts of the crew led to the death of 423 people.

8 MONBLAN AND IMO

In the harbor of the Canadian city of Halifax on December 6, 1917, the French military cargo ship "Mont Blanc", which was fully loaded by one explosive - trotyl, pyroxiline and picric acid, with the Norwegian ship "IMO". As a result of the strongest explosion, the port and much of the city were completely destroyed. About 2000 people died as a result of an explosion under the wreckage of buildings and because of the fires that arose after the explosion. Approximately 9,000 people were injured, 400 people lost sight. The explosion in Halifax is among the strongest explosions arranged by mankind, this explosion is considered the most powerful explosion of the disorder era.

Costa Concordia Cruise Line


The best disasters sometimes begin with the signs of fate. Already during the baptism ceremony, the vessel, those present suspected a non-Ladnoye: did not break the bottle of champagne, which is considered to be a good admission. This three-standard ship is struck with its size, equipment and comfort: one and a half thousand cabins, two-story fitness center, museum, gallery, cinema, casino, library, concert hall, shops, pools and restaurants. Passengers were where to raise. 01/13/12 The liner appeared on the underwater reef. Because of the big hole, the ship began to immerse the water rapidly.

There were more than 4 thousand people on the vessel. Almost all passengers and crew members were evacuated to the shore, but 32 people could not be saved. The captain of the ship said that he was devoted from the course and approached the shore to greet his friend , who lived on this island. So dangerous approach to the coastline was at Costa Concordia not for the first time. Experts are still perplexed why the liner sat on the reef, because this route the crew knew how his five fingers. Damage from the shipwreck occurrence is assessed by $ 1.5 billion experts. The causes of the catastrophe are unknown to the end, but experts call the notorious human factor and technical fault.

Bhopalskaya catastrophe

The catastrophe in Indian Bhopal was truly terrible not only because it caused a huge damage to the nature of the state, but also because she claimed the lives of 18,000 inhabitants. The subsidiary from Union Carbide Corporation built a chemical plant in Bhopal, which, according to the initial project, should produce pesticides used in agriculture.
But that the plant has become competitive, the production technology was decided to change towards more dangerous and challenging, for which imported import raw materials would not be required. But a number of faults led to the fact that the demand for plant products decreased, so the owners decided to sell it in the summer of 1984. Funding a working enterprise was fresh, the equipment was gradually wearing and ceased to comply with security standards. In the end, the liquid methylocyanate was overheated in one of the reactors, there was a sharp release of his vapors, which was broken by an emergency valve. 42 tons of poisonous vapors have fallen into the atmosphere for counting seconds, which formed a deadly cloud with a diameter of 4 kilometers above the plant and surrounding terrain.
Residential areas and railway station hit the defeat area. The authorities did not have time to inform the population about the danger on time, and the medical staff was not enough, so on the very first day, after a poisonous gas, 5,000 people died. But for a number of years after this, the poisoned people continued to die, and the total number of victims of that accident is estimated at 30,000 people.

Under dangerous natural phenomena, extreme climatic or meteorological phenomena occurring naturally in the same time ...

Collision Dona Pass with tanker vector

On December 20, 1987, the Passenger Farm "Doña Paz" (Dona Paz) was regulated on the studpins (Dona Paz), which led to the largest catastrophe in the world, which occurred in peacetime on the water.

During the collision, the ferry followed his standard route Manila-Katbalogan, which he passed twice a week. December of the twentieth of December 1987, about 06:30 "Dona Paz" sailed from Tacomphan and headed in Manila. At about 22:30, the ferry passed the strait of the Tablas near Marinduk, the weather was clearly clear, but with excitement to the sea.

The collision occurred after the passengers fell asleep, the ferry ran into the "Vector" tanker, which was transported by gasoline and petroleum products. Immediately after the collision, there was a strong fire, associated with the fact that petroleum products spilled in the sea. A strong blow and the fire almost instantly caused panic among the passengers, in addition, according to the approval of the survivors on the ferry, there was no necessary number of life vests.

A total of 26 people survived, of which 24 passengers of the Don Paz and two people with a tanker "Vector".

2016 Igor Pashkevich

Soviet and Russian figure skater Igor Pashkevich It remained in the history of this sport not only as a silver medalist of Che-1996, but also as an athlete, which for the first time in the world in an arbitrary program unmistakably performed all types of triple jumps. Yes, there was a time when not all men participating in the championships could do it.

Soviet and Russian figure skater Igor Pashkevich. Frame with video YouTube

In 1997, Igor began to perform for Azerbaijan, then he trained in America, but everything remained "our" early, worked in Russia. Very often he helped pupils famous ETERY Tutberidze.

On March 25, 2016, from Miami, where the former figure skater lived, came terrible news about the tragic death of Igor Pashkevich. The causes of death were called the most different, even talked about suicide. But friends and pupils did not want to believe that such a charming person, like Igor, could bring abuse with life.

One of the touching memorial posts was dedicated to him Julia Lipnitskayawho thanked Igor Anatolyevich in all the help he had it.

August 17, 2009 - Accident on Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP

The largest hydroelectric station in Russia and the world in the world - Sayano-Shushenskaya - was stopped on August 17, when water joined the car hall. Three of the ten generating hydraulic units were completely destroyed, and all other are damaged.

Recovery work on HPP on the Yenisei River is expected to take several years and will be completed at best in 2014. The largest accident in the history of the Russian and Soviet hydropower led 75 people to death. Commission of the Russian State Duma, investigating the causes of the accident at Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, called the names of about 20 station workers involved in her opinion, to the tragedy.

The deputies were recommended to dismiss, among others, the Director General of HPP Nicholas Russia's chief engineer Andrei Mitrofanov. In December 2010, an already former director of the HPP was not considered a charge of "violation of safety regulations and other rules for labor protection, which resulted in the death of two and more persons."

River killer

In 1931, the largest flood in history happened in China. The Yangtze River ranks third among major rivers, about 700 different rivers fall into it. Every year, during the rain, she poured and brought damage.

In August 1931, the Yangtze River and the neighboring Juanhe River came out of the shores, grinding into one powerful stream, destroyed the dam. This led to a global flood. They destroying everything in their path, flooded 16 Chinese provinces, these are about 300,000 thousand hectares of land.

More than 40 million people suffered, remaining no bed, clothes and food. Water did not go about 4 months. As a result of long hunger and diseases, the death rates exceeded 3.5 million people. To prevent such a tragedy, two defending dams were built and two reservoirs were created.

Earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004


Number of victims: 225,000-300 000

The underwater earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean at the West Coast of North Sumatra, 250 kilometers southeast of the city of Gang Aceh. It is considered one of. Its magnitude according to different estimates amounted to 9.1 to 9.3 points on the Richter scale. Arriving at a depth of about 30 km, the earthquake caused a number of devastating tsunami, the height of which exceeded 15 meters. These waves led to enormous destruction and took life, according to different estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people in 14 countries. The coast of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand suffered the greatest of the tsunami.

Chinese earthquake 1556.


The number of dead: approximately 830,000

This earthquake of magnitude approximately 8 points occurred on January 23, 1556 in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, during the reign of the Ming dynasty. More than 97 districts were injured from it, on an area of \u200b\u200b840 km everything was destroyed, and in some areas 60% of the population died. In total, the Chinese earthquake took the lives of approximately 830,000 people - more than any other earthquake in the history of mankind. A huge number of victims are due to the fact that the predominant part of the provincial population lived in the Lens caves, which were destroyed or flooded with the village streams immediately after the first jolts.

Catastrophe on water with the largest number of dead

On May 5, 1937, the German cruise liner was lowered, named after Wilhelm Gustloff, one of the leaders of the National Socialist Switzerland, who died over the year before.

The passenger liner had ten decks, was designed for 1.5 thousand people, 417 crew members served. The ship was built according to the most advanced technologies, and it was very comfortable. The liner was intended, first of all, for the implementation of long and unhurried cruises. In 1939, Wilhelm Gustloff was transferred to the Navy of Germany. Soon he became a floating hospital, and then after 1940, ranked in the school of submariners in Gotenhafen. His color again became camouflage, and he lost the protection of the Hague Convention.

After a torpedo attack, which was held by the Soviet submarine under the command of A.I. Marinezka, Wilhegelm Gustloff sank off the coast of Poland on January 30, 1945 according to official data, 5,348 people died, however, the exact number of passengers remained unknown.

Near the coast of Crimea, on November 7, 1941, the Soviet ship "Armenia" was swept on the Hitler Aviation, on board which, allegedly, there were more than 3,000 people.

The largest planes in the world due to the human factor

Here on the first is a terrible tragedy September 11, 2001When 2 American Airlines and United Airlines and United Airlines are in the hands of terrorists. And then rammed the building of the World Trade Center, known as the twin towers.

In second place there is the largest aircraft crash for all time civil aviation - it clash at Tenerife Airport of two Boeing 747 - KLM and Pan American.

The cause of the disaster is called an improper understanding of the pilot of the KLM team of the dispatcher. For 583 people These flights became the last in their lives. Saving only about thirty passengers managed.

On the third place - sAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES BOEING 747-168B clash and Il-76TD Kazakhstan Airlines. It happened right in the air.

The reason is still the same - an improper understanding of the pilot of the dispatcher teams. As it is logical to assume, no one managed to survive.

Fourth place occupies the terrorist attack on the Boeing 747 Airlines Air India. An explosion thundered on board the aircraft. A few seconds later, his debris was already floating on the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Rescuers found only corpses.

And finally, the fifth place L-101 SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES. The flight from Er-Riyadh to Jidda was interrupted because of the fire in the rear cargo compartment.

The pilot managed to plant a plane in Er-Riyadh, but because of the ignorance of the English language, the airport service could not understand the instructions for the opening of the aircraft doors. Fatal 23 minutes Played your role - everyone who was in the plane died.

Crash on the chemical factory in Flixboro

In the British city of Flixboro, the Nipro plant was located, which produced an ammonium salter, and 4000 tons of caprolactam, 3000 tons of cyclohexanone, 2500 tons of phenol, 2000 tons of cyclohexane were kept on its territory, and many other chemical preparations. But various technological containers and ball tanks had insufficient fullness, which increased the danger of an explosion. In addition, high pressure and at high temperatures in factory reactors were various flammable materials.
The administration sought to improve the productivity of the plant, but it reduced the effectiveness of fire extinguishing. The engineers of the company were often forced to close their eyes to retreat from technological regulations, neglected security standards - a picture of a friend. Finally, on June 1, 1974, the plant shuddered from a powerful explosion. Instantly production premises were embraced by a flame, and the shock wave from the explosion swept through the surrounding settlements, breaking the windows to the windows, breaking down from the roof houses and kalece people. Then 55 people died. The power of the explosion was estimated at 45 tons in TNT equivalent. But the worst thing is that the explosion was accompanied by the emergence of a large cloud of toxic vapors, because of which the authorities had to urgently evacuate the inhabitants of some neighboring settlements.
Damage from this technogenic disaster was estimated at 36 million pounds - it was the most expensive emergency for the British industry.

The largest ecological catastrophe

From the point of view of ecology, now on the planet there is one of the largest catastrophes - a decrease in the level of the Aral Sea and its drying. The so-called Aral Sea was the fourth on the size of the lake on the planet after the Caspian Sea (which due to its closure can be qualified as a lake), the top lake in North America and Lake Victoria in Africa.

But after the drains of the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers who feed the Aral, began to climb through the built irrigation systems, lake washed. In the summer of 2014, his eastern part was practically dried, the volume of water decreased to 10%.

All this entailed climate change, which became continental. On the spoken day of the former sea, the sand-salt desert of Aralkum appeared. Dusty storms spread the smallest particles of salt with inclusions of the peephyhimicates and agricultural fertilizers, which at one time fell into the aral from the fields across the rivers and can negatively affect the health of people and animals. Most types of marine inhabitants disappeared due to salinity, the ports closed, people lost their job.

Mass poisoning in the bass


In September 1971, about 90,000 tons of grain arrived in the Iraqi Port of Basra. It was American barley and mexican wheat treated with mercury methyl to slow down. The grain was painted in a bright pink color, and on all bags a danger warning was printed, however, only in English and Spanish. Before the bags were distributed to farmers, they were stolen from docks and sold out the starving population.

Iraqi government, fearing indignations about their criminal negligence, hid this story. It was not known about it for almost two years while the American correspondent did not find evidence, 6,530 incidents of mercury poisoning. Officials confessed only in 459 deaths, but the real number of victims amounted to about 6,000 people. In addition, the other 10,000 suffered from such side effects as blindness, deafness and damage to the brain.

Chain reaction of explosions in Texas


April 15, 1947, the French cargo ship arrived in Texas. It was about 1,400 tons of fertilizer, ammonium nitrate. The same night, fire flashed on the ship. For dawn, local authorities were significantly concerned about the pillars of black smoke from the vessel, as the city's chemical plant was only 300 meters from the firefish. Towing vessels were prepared to drive the cargo to the sea. However, a suddenly a huge post of fire has enveloped the ship. For many it became the last thing they saw. The wall of the flame shifted on the chemical plant, which led to an explosion. Most of the business district was the stir from the face of the Earth. The fire was raging along the coastline, where Bhutan's huge tanks were. After midnight, a new chain reaction of explosions began. As a result of the catastrophe, more than 500 people died, and about 1,000 were seriously injured.

Persian Bay, July 3, 1988

In total after a few minutes after raising, Bender Abbas Airport, the A300 airport was shot down by the US attacking rocket, directed from the Earth. Died all who were inside, it is 290 people. The cruiser that launched the rocket, at that time stood in the waters belonging to Iran. The US government stated that the cruiser mistakenly accepted the A300 for the Iranian aircraft that took off with the military goal. This version caused a lot of criticism. Whatever it was, in the official report to justify the incident, the stressful state of the crew of the cruiser was indicated, as well as the external similarity of A300 with military aircraft.

According to Iranians, the same attack was completely intentional, designed to put pressure on the government's government, so that he concluded a truce with Iran. It would be advantageous to the United States.

The catastrophe is considered the tragic of those that have occurred not due to falling, collisions or terrorist attack

To date, airliners are the most comfortable and fast view of transport, allowing in a matter of hours to cross the entire globe. On solid land, the aircraft seems great and reliable, but it turns out that he can be almost defenseless in the sky. Nevertheless, it is not worth exposing themselves to fear, because according to statistics in the plane crash, fewer people from all types of transport accidents die.

Place 3 August 1985, tragedy on board Boeing-747 airliner

In the summer of 1985, the tragic fate suffered a plane flying along the Tokyo-Osaku route. Air transport spent only 12 minutes in the sky, as it began to work with the hydraulic system interruptions, after the knitted cotton heard. More than half an air carriage crew tried to deploy an airliner and land at the near airport. To do this, the team tried to use the entire craving generated by the engine, as the steering system completely refused to work. But despite the tremendous efforts of the entire crew, the airliner failed to deliver to the airport, the vessel was crashed, hanged into the mountain called Otsutak. Wreck occurred at an altitude of 1.7 kilometers. To arrive at the place of the tragedy, the rescue teams needed more than 12 hours, but despite such a long time they managed to find 4-exit passengers, among which were two children. The number of those killed in this accident - 520 people.

Place of crashing airliner

Horrors and death in the air

In the middle of the twentieth century, air transportation gained massive. The active development of passenger aviation led to the ability of the death of a person in the sky compared with the "water" mortality. Here is a list of "bright" tragedies who have claimed the lives of many in no guilty of people:

1. Collision on Tenerife. The catastrophe occurred on March 27, 1977. Place Events - Canary Islands (Tenerif). The rock "meeting" of two liners was the cause of the death of 583 people. 61 people managed to escape in the tragedy. For the period of the twentieth century, this aircraft crash is the largest in terms of the number of civil aviation.

Clash on Tenerife

2. Catastrophe under Tokyo. On August 12, 1985, a Japanese liner 12 minutes after his takeoff lost control, having lost the vertical stabilizer. For 32 minutes, the crew struggled for the rescue of the aircraft in the air, but the collision with Mount Otsutak influenced the destructive outcome of the events. Died 520 people, and survived only 4. The catastrophe is called the largest in the history of "one aircraft".

Catastrophe under Tokyo

3. Charch Dadri (city in India). Aviation crash occurred as a result of the collision of the flagship and Kazakhstan liners at an altitude of 4,109 meters. All passengers died, including the crew of both planes (only 349 people).

A plane crash over Charch Dadry

4. Aerial collapse under Paris. On March 3, 1974, a wide-visor airliner, built by the Turkish company, was due to the life of 346 people. A few minutes after the take-off, the cargo compartment door suddenly opened.

Aerial crash near Paris

Explosive compression destroyed all control systems. The plane picketed and crashed into the forest. The investigation indicated the imperfection of the locking mechanism in the compartment. After, in many airlines there were changes in the structures of aircraft to avoid catastrophic repetitions.

Terrorist attack under crust

5. Cork terrorist attack. In the direction of London, the flagship carrier of India became a victim of a cruel terrorist attack. Literally a few minutes before the arrival, an explosion happened on board the aircraft and all those who were in it were killed (329 people). In the history of Canada, this is the largest terrorist attack.