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What are some of the worst natural disasters in history? When did they occur? Casualties? Causes? Discuss.

The Volcanic Eruption at Pompeii....Destroying the city, and having it lost for 1600 years....79 A.D.....People were covered in feet of ashes, meanwhile being consequently mummified.

It's amazing how a whole city could lost like that.

The mass extinction occurred at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Stratigraphic Boundary, 65 million years ago.

The recent tsunami was fairly nasty. Krakatoa was...woah...

Earthquake in China (1556) killed approximately 883 000 people.

Originally posted by Tshern
Earthquake in China (1556) killed approximately 883 000 people.
Wow. Hadn't heard of that one before. Ridiculous.

when Nevado del Ruiz the volcano in Columbia erupted in 1985 I think.. the eruption caused Lahars to flow through the town of Armero.. it caused more than 23,000 deaths, about 5,000 injury's, and more than 5,000 homes were destroyed... Three quarters of the population of Armero were killed by the lahars.

The end Permian extinction, something lke 90% of all species on Earth were wiped out. Talk about a bad time to be alive.

When God flooded the earth. *runs away*

thats right. RUN!

You can come back if you bring historical proof. Its out there, but I'm not an authority on it. and not that I have any authority here whatsoever.

The Biblical flood was likely real, just not anything like it was in the bible.

Yup. or in the other religious texts.

Id say that mount vesuvius (pompeii) is the most rememberable and was pretty devasting but as for the worst......hey i found a list
* Athens, 430 B.C.: Typhus epidemic
* Pompei, 79: Volcanic eruption
* Antioch, Syria, 526: Earthquake (250,000 dead)
* Costantinopole, 542: Bubonic plague
* Beirut, Lebanon, 551: earthquake and tsunami (tens of thousands dead)
* Japan, 1181: famine (100,000 dead)
* Holland, 1228: sea flood (100,000 dead)
* Chihli, China, 1290: Earthquake (100,000 dead)
* Europe and Asia, 1346-52: Bubonic plague or "black death" (one third of the European population dead plus millions in Asia and North Africa for a total of 25 million)
* Shensi, China, 1556: earthquake (800,000 dead)
* Napoli, Italy, 1631: Mt Vesuvius erupts (3,000 dead)
* Havana, 1648: Yellow fever epidemic
* Sevilla, Spain, 1649: Plague (80,000 dead)
* Turkey, 1668: earthquake (8,000 dead)
* Hokkaido, 1730: Earthquake (140,000 dead)
* Lisbon, 1755: earthquake and tsunami (30,000 dead)
* Calcutta, 1737: Earthquake (300,000 dead)
* Bengal, India, 1769: famine (10 million dead)
* India, 1775: Tsunami (60,000 dead)
* Northamerica, 1775-82: Smallpox (130,000 dead)
* Iran, 1780: earthquake (200,000 dead)
* Caribbeans, 1780: Hurricane (22,000 dead)
* Philadelphia, 1793: Yellow fever epidemic (5,000 dead)
* Sumbawa, Indonesia, 1815: Mt Tambora erupts (88,000 dead)
* Japan, 1826: Tsunami (27,000 dead)
* Cairo, 1831: Cholera epidemic, which spreads to London
* London and Paris, 1832: Cholera epidemic (25,000 dead)
* Ireland, 1845: famine (one million dead)
* Mapoli, Italy, 1857: earthquake (11,000 dead)
* India, 1864: Cyclone (70,000 dead)
* France, 1870-71: Smallpox (500,000 dead)
* Bangladesh, 1876: Cyclone (200,000 dead)
* China, 1876-78: Drought (9 million dead)
* China, 1881: Typhoon (300,000 dead)
* Indonesia, 1883: Tsunami (36,000 dead)
* Huayan Kou, China, 1887: Yang-tse Kiang flooding (one million dead)
* Mino-owari, Japan, 1891: earthquake (7,000 dead)
* Sanriku, Japan, 1896: Tsunami (27,000 dead)
* India, 1897: earthquake (1,500 dead)
* Galveston, 1900: Hurricane (8,000 dead)
* Martinique, 1902: Volcano (38,000 dead)
* San Francisco, 1906: earthquake and fire (3,000 dead)
* Colombia, 1906: earthquake (1,000 dead)
* Chile, 1906: earthquake (20,000 dead)
* China, 1907: famine (20 million dead)
* Messina, Italy, 1908: 7.5 earthquake (70,000 dead)
* Mexico City, 1911: earthquake
* Worldwide, 1918: Influenza pandemic (25-100 million dead)
* Gansu, China, 1920: 8.6 earthquake (200,000 dead)
* Ukraine, 1921: Famine (5 million dead)
* Yokohama, Japan, 1923: 8.3 earthquake (143,000 dead)
* Nanshan, China, 1927: 8.3 earthquake (200,000 dead)
* China, 1928: Famine (3 million dead)
* Florida, USA, 1928: Hurricane (1800 dead)
* China, 1931: Flooding (3.7 million dead)
* Ukraine and Russia, 1932: Famine (5 million dead)
* Gansu, China, 1932: 7.6 earthquake (70,000 dead)
* Sanriku, Japan, 1933: 8.4 earthquake (3,000 dead)
* Bihar, India, 1934: 8.1 earthquake (10,700 dead)
* Quetta, Pakistan, 1935: 7.5 earthquake (60,000 dead)
* China, 1936: Famine (5 million dead)
* New York, USA, 1938: Rains (600 dead)
* Erzincan, Turkey, 1939: 7.8 earthquake (33,000 dead)
* China, 1941: Famine (3 million dead)
* Bengal, India, 1943: famine (3.5 million dead)
* Tonankai, Japan, 1944: 8.1 earthquake (1,200 dead)
* Nankaido, Japan, 1946: earthquake (1,330 dead)
* Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 1948: earthquake (100,000 dead)
* Assam, India, 1950: earthquake (1,526 dead)
* Holland, 1953: Sea flood (1,794 dead)
* Iran, 1953: Rain flood (10,000 dead)
* Louisiana, USA, 1957: Hurricane (400 dead)
* Worldwide, 1957: Influenza pandemic (about four million dead)
* Japan, 1958: Typhoon (5,000 dead)
* China, 1958-61: Famine (38 million dead)
* Morocco, 1960: earthquake (10,000 dead)
* Chile, 1960: 9.5 earthquake (5,700 dead)
* Mt Huascaran, Peru, 1962: Volcano eruption (3,000)
* India, 1965: Famine (1.5 million dead)
* Worldwide, 1968: Influenza pandemic (about 750,000 dead)
* China, 1969: Famine (20 million dead)
* North Peru, 1970: 7.8 earthquake (66,000 dead)
* Bangladesh, 1970: Sea flood (200-500,000 dead)
* Vietnam, 1971: Red River flood (100,000 dead)
* Nicaragua, 1972: earthquake flood (10,000 dead)
* Bangladesh, 1974: floods (28,000 dead)
* Ethiopia, 1974: famine (200,000 dead)
* Haicheng, China, 1975: 7.0 earthquake (10,000 dead)
* Tangshan, China, 1976: 8.0 earthquake (750,000 dead)
* Guatemala, 1976: earthquake (23,000 dead)
* Andhra Pradesh, India, 1977: cyclone (10,000 dead)
* Caribbeans, 1979: Hurricane (2,000 dead)
* Mexico, 1982: volcanic eruption (1,800 dead)
* Yemen, 1982: earthquake (3,000 dead)
* Bhopal, India, 1984: Chemical pollution (3,800 dead)
* Ethiopia, 1984: Famine (900,000 dead)
* Ciudad de Mexico, 1985: 8.1 earthquake (9,500 dead)
* Colombia, 1985: Volcano (25,000 dead)
* Armenia, 1988: earthquake (55,000 dead)
* Colombia, 1985: eruption of Nevado del Ruiz (23,000 dead)
* Bangladesh, 1988: Monsoon flood (1,300 dead)
* Gilan and Zanjan, Iran, 1990: 7.7 earthquake (35,000 dead)
* Bangladesh, 1991: tsunami (138,000 dead)
* Latur, India, 1993: earthquake (22,000 dead)
* Kobe, Japan, 1995: earthquake (5,500 dead)
* Niger, 1995: meningitis epidemic (3,000 dead)
* Chicago, USA, 1995: heatwave (739 dead)
* North Korea, 1995-98: Famine and floods (3.5 million dead)
* West Africa, 1996: meningitis outbreak (25,000 dead)
* Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 1996: earthquake (??,000 dead)
* Papua New Guinea, 1998: Tsunami (2,200 dead)
* Yangtze Kiang, China, 1998: flooding (3,600 dead)
* Central America, 1998: Hurricane Mitch and floods (12,000 dead)
* Afghanistan, 1998: Earthquakes (10,000 dead)
* Colombia, 1999: earthquake (1,185 dead)
* Izmit, Turkey, 1999: earthquake (17,000 dead)
* Taiwan, 1999: 7.6 earthquake (2,400 dead)
* Orissa, India, 1999: Cyclone (7,600 dead)
* Venezuela, 1999: Floods (20,000 dead)
* Gujarat, India, 2001: earthquake (20,000 dead)
* El Salvador, 2001: earthquake (850 dead)
* Afghanistan, 2002: earthquake (2,500 dead)
* Algeria, 2003: earthquake (2,266 dead)
* Asia, 2003: SARS (744 dead, mostly in China)
* Andhra Pradesh, India, 2003: Heat wave (1,300 dead)
* France, Spain and Italy, 2003: Heat wave (50,000 dead)
* Bam, Iran, 2003: earthquake (26,300 dead)
* Al-Hoceima, Morocco, 2004: earthquake (571 dead)
* Haiti and Dominican Republic, 2004: rains (2,400 dead)
Philippines, 2004: typhoon (1,000 dead)
* China, 2004: floods (1,300 dead)
* Southeast Asia, 2004: tsunamis caused by 9.0 earthquake (111,000 dead
* Zarand, Iran, 2005: earthquake (500 dead)
* Nias, Indonesia, 2005: 8.7 earthquake (1000 dead)
*Mumbai, India, 2005: monsoon (1,000 dead)
*China, 2005: floods (567 dead)
*Louisiana and Mississippi, USA, 2005:"Katrina"hurricane (1,417 dead)
* Niger, 2005: famine (10,000? dead)
* Kashmir, 2005: earthquake (80,500 dead
* Central America, 2005: floods (1,400 dead,
* Philippines, 2006: mudslides (1,800)

George W Bush being elected president.

Does the Black plague in Europe count?.....It does count as natural...

I think it does. That one should have been obvious to me.

Hm. I guess so. Why not?

Originally posted by Janus Marius
Hm. I guess so. Why not?

Is it really a "natural disaster" though? In my opinion, I wouldn't categorize it the same as most of the others on the list.

It's naturally occuring though. It wouldn't count under the old "Act of God" definition, but since you've brought it up, I'll make a specific thread for worst contagion in history.

But it did count as an act of god.......That's what people were saying...It was said it came upon them because they were so sinful....

Yeah, and they also ate moldy bread and believed in revenants.

Originally posted by debbiejo
Does the Black plague in Europe count?.....It does count as natural...

i was thinking about that to i think it does

Originally posted by Janus Marius
Yeah, and they also ate moldy bread and believed in revenants.

natural disasters do not necessarily imply an inatimate system. Its just easier to count metorites, earthquakes, floods etc as natural disasters that happen at once. THings like global warming, iceages, mass extinctions, plagues are still natural disasters, just ones that happen over a longer period of time. Natuaral to me means not human induced.

Originally posted by Koenig
The mass extinction occurred at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Stratigraphic Boundary, 65 million years ago.

The end Permian extinction was worse - people just know more about the Cretaceous because it killer off those "terrible lizards". All in all the Cretaceous only killed about half the species on the planet.

Originally posted by Alliance
George W Bush being elected president.

lol! totally agree!lol

Unfortunately...that was man made. (I know I said it) George W Bush being born? That was "natural."

Originally posted by Alliance
natural disasters do not necessarily imply an inatimate system. Its just easier to count metorites, earthquakes, floods etc as natural disasters that happen at once. THings like global warming, iceages, mass extinctions, plagues are still natural disasters, just ones that happen over a longer period of time. Natuaral to me means not human induced.

The plague could be considered human induced, due to the fact it was our disregard for sanitation that spread it.

Yeah...but the virus itself was not man made. It wasn't like it was a bioweapon. Good point, but its not enough to convince me.

That's a lot of Dead people.

natural disaster: the evolution of man,
occurence: 2mil-400k years ago
casualties: all that ails the planet now
causes: evolutionary views/religious views


edit:
natural - all that is in nature....people are natural so therefore human induced things are natural occurences......my my humans are indeed so arrogant.

In terms of death rate, wouldn't the Spanish Influenza be the worst?