The most global catastrophe in the history of mankind. The worst disasters in the world

Environmental disasters have their own specifics - not a single person may die during them, but very significant damage to the environment will be inflicted. In our time, the culprit of environmental disasters is mainly a person. The growth of industrial and agricultural production brings not only material benefits, but also slowly kills our habitat. Therefore, the biggest environmental disasters in the world are imprinted in human memory for a long time.

1. Leakage of oil products from the tanker "Prestige"

The Bahamian-flagged single-hull tanker Prestige was built by the Japanese shipyard Hitachi to carry crude oil and launched in 1976. In November 2002, while passing through the Bay of Biscay, the tanker got into a strong storm off the coast of Galicia, as a result of which it received a 35 m long crack, from which about a thousand tons of fuel oil began to flow out per day.
The Spanish coast guards did not allow the dirty ship to enter the nearest port, so they tried to tow it to Portugal, but a similar refusal was received there. In the end, the restless tanker was towed to the Atlantic. On November 19, it sank completely, splitting into two parts, which sank to the bottom to a depth of about 3,700 m. Since it was impossible to fix the breakdown and pump out oil products, more than 70,000 cubic meters of oil got into the ocean. On the surface along the coastline, a spot more than a thousand kilometers long was formed, which caused enormous damage to the local fauna and flora.
For Europe, this case was the most catastrophic oil spill in history. The damage from it was estimated at 4 billion euros, 300,000 volunteers worked to eliminate its consequences.

Throughout the history of mankind, the strongest earthquakes have repeatedly caused enormous damage to people and caused a huge number of casualties among the population ...

2. The collapse of the tanker "Exxon Valdez"

On March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker, fully loaded with oil, sailed from the terminal in the Alaskan port of Valdez, bound for the Californian port of Long Beach. Having taken the ship out of Valdez, the pilot handed over control of the tanker to Captain Joseph Jeffrey, who was already “drunk” by that time. There were icebergs in the sea, so the captain was forced to deviate from the course, notifying the coast guard about this. Having received permission from the latter, he changed course, and at 23 o'clock left the wheelhouse, leaving the control of the ship to the third mate and the sailor, who had already defended their watches and needed a 6-hour rest. In fact, the tanker was controlled by an autopilot guided by a navigation system.
Before leaving, the captain instructed the assistant that two minutes after passing the traverse of the island, you need to change course. The assistant conveyed this order to the sailor, but either he himself was late, or his execution was late, but at half past midnight on March 24, the tanker crashed into Blythe Reef. As a result of the disaster, 40,000 cubic meters of oil spilled into the ocean, and environmentalists believe that much more. 2,400 km of coastline were contaminated, making this accident one of the most significant environmental disasters in the world.

3. Chernobyl disaster

Everyone has probably heard about the largest accident at a nuclear power plant in the history of mankind, which occurred in Chernobyl. Its consequences are visible now, and will remind of themselves for many years to come. On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, completely destroying the reactor, and tons of radioactive materials were released into the environment. At the time of the tragedy itself, 31 people died, but this is only the tip of the iceberg - it is simply impossible to calculate the number of victims and victims of this accident.
About 200 people who directly took part in its liquidation are officially considered dead from the accident, their lives were claimed by radiation sickness. The nature of all Eastern Europe suffered enormous damage. Dozens of tons of radioactive uranium, plutonium, strontium and cesium were sprayed into the atmosphere and began to slowly settle to the ground, carried by the wind. The desire of the authorities not to give wide publicity to what happened, so that panic would not start among the population, made its share in the tragedy of the unfolding events around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Therefore, many thousands of residents of cities and villages who did not fall into the alienated 30-kilometer zone, carelessly remained in their places.
In subsequent years, there was a surge of cancer among them, mothers gave birth to thousands of freaks, and this is still observed. In total, due to the spread of radioactive contamination of the area, the authorities had to evacuate over 115,000 people who lived inside the 30-kilometer zone around the nuclear power plant. More than 600,000 people took part in the liquidation of this accident and its protracted consequences, and colossal funds were spent. The territory immediately adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is still a restricted area, since it is unsuitable for habitation.

Occasionally, tsunami waves occur in the ocean. They are very insidious - they are completely invisible in the open ocean, but as soon as they approach the coastal shelf, they ...

4. Accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant

The crash happened on March 11, 2011. It all started with a strong earthquake and a powerful tsunami, they put out of action the backup diesel generators and the power supply system of the nuclear power plant. This led to the dysfunction of the reactor cooling system, the melting of the core in three power units of the station. During the accident, hydrogen was released, which exploded, destroying the outer shell of the reactor, but the reactor itself survived.
Due to the leakage of radioactive substances, the level of radiation quickly began to grow, because the depressurization of the shells of the fuel elements caused the leakage of radioactive cesium. Water samples were taken 30 kilometers from the station in the ocean on March 23, which showed an excess of the norms for iodine-131 and cesium-137, but the radioactivity of the water kept increasing and by March 31 exceeded the normal level by almost 4400 times, because even after the accident the water contaminated with radiation continued to seep into the ocean. It is clear that after some time, animals with outlandish genetic and physiological changes began to come across in local waters.
The spread of radiation contributed to the fish themselves, and other marine animals. Thousands of local residents had to be resettled from the radiation-contaminated area. A year later, on the coast near the nuclear power plant, radiation exceeded the norm by 100 times, so decontamination work will be carried out here for a long time.

5. Bhopal disaster

The catastrophe in Indian Bhopal turned out to be truly terrible, not only because it caused great damage to the nature of the state, but also because it claimed the lives of 18,000 inhabitants. A subsidiary of the Union Carbide Corporation was building a chemical plant in Bhopal that was originally designed to produce agricultural pesticides.
But in order for the plant to become competitive, it was decided to change the production technology towards a more dangerous and complex one, which would not require more expensive imported raw materials. But a series of crop failures led to the fact that the demand for the plant's products decreased, so its owners decided to sell the plant in the summer of 1984. The financing of the operating enterprise was curtailed, the equipment gradually wore out and ceased to meet safety standards. In the end, liquid methyl isocyanate overheated in one of the reactors, there was a sharp release of its vapors, which ruptured the emergency valve. In a matter of seconds, 42 tons of poisonous vapors entered the atmosphere, which formed a deadly cloud with a diameter of 4 kilometers over the plant and the surrounding area.
Residential areas and the railway station fell into the affected area. The authorities did not have time to inform the population about the danger in time, and there was a critical shortage of medical staff, so on the very first day, 5,000 people died after inhaling poisonous gas. But even for a number of years after that, poisoned people continued to die, and the total number of victims of that accident is estimated at 30,000 people.

Since ancient times, the sophisticated mind of man has tried to come up with such a terrible punishment for the criminal, which must be carried out publicly in order to frighten ...

6Sandoz Chemical Disaster

One of the worst environmental disasters that caused incredible damage to nature occurred on November 1, 1986 in prosperous Switzerland. The plant of the chemical and pharmaceutical giant Sandoz, built on the banks of the Rhine near Basel, produced a variety of chemicals used in agriculture. When a severe fire broke out at the plant, about 30 tons of pesticides and mercury compounds got into the Rhine. The water in the Rhine has turned an ominous red.
The authorities forbade the inhabitants who lived on its banks to leave their homes. Downstream, in some German cities, the centralized water supply had to be cut off, and drinking water was brought to residents in cisterns. Almost all fish and other living creatures died in the river, some species were irretrievably lost. Later, a program until 2020 was adopted, the goal of which was to make the waters of the Rhine suitable for bathing.

7. Disappearance of the Aral Sea

Back in the middle of the last century, the Aral was the fourth largest lake in the world. But the active withdrawal of water from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya for irrigation of cotton and other crops led to the fact that the Aral Sea began to quickly become shallow, divided into 2 parts, one of which has already completely dried up, and the second will follow its example in the coming years.
Scientists have calculated that from 1960 to 2007 the Aral Sea lost 1,000 cubic kilometers of water, which led to its reduction by more than 10 times. Previously, 178 species of vertebrates lived in the Aral Sea, and now there are only 38 of them.
For decades, agricultural waste was dumped into the Aral and settled at the bottom. Now they have turned into poisonous sand, which the wind carries fifty kilometers around, polluting the surroundings and destroying vegetation. The island of Vozrozhdenie has long since become part of the mainland, and once upon a time there was a testing ground for bacteriological weapons on it. There are burials with such deadly diseases as typhus, plague, smallpox, anthrax. Some pathogens are still alive, so they can spread to habitable zones thanks to rodents.

Human civilization has required the creation of thousands of professions, most of which, fortunately, are safe. The main disadvantage of work is that ...

8 Flixboro Chemical Plant Accident

In the British city of Flixborough, there was a Nipro plant that produced ammonium nitrate, and 4,000 tons of caprolactam, 3,000 tons of cyclohexanone, 2,500 tons of phenol, 2,000 tons of cyclohexane and many other chemicals were stored on its territory. But the various process tanks and spherical tanks were underfilled, which increased the danger of an explosion. In addition, various flammable materials were kept under high pressure and high temperature in the plant's reactors.
The administration sought to increase the productivity of the plant, but this reduced the effectiveness of fire extinguishing equipment. The company's engineers were often forced to turn a blind eye to deviations from the technological regulations, to neglect safety standards - a familiar picture. Finally, on June 1, 1974, the plant was shaken by a powerful explosion. Instantly, the production facilities were engulfed in flames, and the shock wave from the explosion swept through the surrounding settlements, shattering windows, ripping off roofs from houses and maiming people. Then 55 people died. The power of the explosion was estimated at 45 tons of TNT. But worst of all, the explosion was accompanied by the emergence of a large cloud of toxic fumes, because of which the authorities had to urgently evacuate the inhabitants of some neighboring settlements.
The damage from this man-made disaster was estimated at 36 million pounds - it was the most expensive emergency for British industry.

9 Piper Alpha Oil Rig Fire

In July 1988, a major disaster occurred on the Piper Alpha platform, which was used for oil and gas production. Its consequences were exacerbated by the indecisive and ill-considered actions of the personnel, due to which 167 out of 226 people working on the platform died. For some time after the accident, oil products continued to flow through the pipes, so the fire did not die out, but flared up even more. This catastrophe ended not only with human casualties, but also with great damage to the environment.

Nowadays, the most famous or largest sunken ships resting at the bottom of the seas and oceans are of interest not only to archaeologists, but also to adventurers...

10. The explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico

On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deep Water Horizon oil platform, owned by British Petroleum and located in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused a huge amount of oil to be thrown out of an uncontrolled well into the sea for a long time. The platform itself plunged into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts were only able to roughly estimate the volume of spilled oil, but one thing is clear - this catastrophe has become one of the most terrible for the biosphere, not only the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, but also the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Oil poured into the water for 152 days, 75,000 sq. km of the waters of the bay were covered with a thick oil film. All the states whose coast goes to the Gulf of Mexico (Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi) suffered from pollution, but Alabama got the most.
About 400 species of rare animals were endangered, and thousands of seabirds and amphibians died on the oil-filled shores. The Office of Specially Protected Resources reported that there was an outbreak of mortality among cetaceans in the bay following the oil spill.

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number of victims: 13–14
Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, is a convicted American serial killer who was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. At one time he opened a real campaign of terror against the population of California. At night, he broke into houses, robbed, raped and killed. He often left images of a pentagram at crime scenes, and also forced his victims to say "I love Satan." He died of liver failure at the age of 53 on June 7, 2013 in a hospital, California, USA.

victims: 17
American serial killer, known by the nicknames "Milwaukee Monster", "Milwaukee Cannibal". It killed at least 17 young men and women between 1978 and 1991. All but one of the crimes took place in Milwaukee. His murders were extremely brutal. The corpses of their victims "Milwaukee Monster" raped and ate. After his arrest on July 22, 1991, the court found Dahmer sane and sentenced him to 957 years in prison. In 1994, a serial killer was beaten to death by his cellmate.

victims: 33
On the eighth line in the ranking of the most famous serial killers in the world is John Wayne Gacy, also known as the "Clown Killer" - an American serial killer who raped and killed 33 young people, including several teenagers. He was arrested in 1978 and sentenced to death. While on death row, Gacy wrote a book where he claimed that the Lord had returned his heterosexual orientation to him, and also painted pictures and sold them to collectors. He was executed on May 10, 1994 by lethal injection.

victims: 36
Gennady Mikhasevich, known by the nicknames "Vitebsk Strangler" and "Patriot of Vitebsk", was a Soviet serial killer who killed 36 women between 1971-1985 in the city of Vitebsk, Belarus. Almost all of his crimes were accompanied by rape. He did not attack his victims, but, on the contrary, voluntarily lured them into a car (a red Zaporozhets), where he tempted them, or forcibly brought them to a deserted place and strangled them at the moment of orgasm. He did not carry the murder weapon with him, he preferred to use improvised objects for strangulation. "Vitebsk Strangler" was arrested on December 9, 1985 and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on September 25, 1987.

the number of victims ranges from 5 to 37
Serial killer active in Northern California and San Francisco in the late 1960s. The identity of the offender has not yet been established. He called himself the Zodiac himself in a series of scathing letters sent by him to the editors of the district newspapers. The letters also contained cryptograms in which the killer allegedly encrypted information about himself. Three of the four cryptograms are still undeciphered.

victims: 53–65
Andrei Chikatilo is also known by the nicknames "Mad Beast", "Rostov Ripper", "Red Ripper", "Killer from the forest belt", "Citizen X", "Satan", "Soviet Jack the Ripper" - one of the most famous Soviet serial killers, who from 1978 to 1990 committed 53 proven murders (according to operational information, more than 65 murders were committed by a maniac). He was arrested on November 20, 1990 and sentenced to death on October 15, 1992.
While on death row, Chikatilo wrote numerous complaints and requests for pardon, took care of his own health - did exercises, ate with appetite. On January 4, 1994, the last request for pardon addressed to Russian President Boris Yeltsin was rejected, and on February 14, Chikatilo was shot in the Novocherkassk prison. Interestingly, the murderer Alexander Kravchenko was mistakenly shot for the crimes committed by Andrei Chikatilo.

number of victims: 19–82
Alexander Spesivtsev is a Russian serial killer, a maniac and a cannibal who, from February to September 1996 in Novokuznetsk, together with his mother (brought the girls to her son, and then buried their remains), killed and ate 19 women and children. Suspected of over 82 murders. Spesivtsev was sentenced to compulsory treatment and, as of 2015, continues to undergo rehabilitation at the Volgograd Special Type Psychiatric Hospital with intensive supervision.

victims: 30–100
In third place on the list of the most brutal serial killers in the world is Theodore Robert Bundy, known by the nickname "Nylon Killer" - one of the worst serial killers in US history, operating in seven states in the 70s of the last century (mostly between 1974- 1978). He was convicted of the murders of 30 young women and executed in the electric chair on January 24, 1989. However, the exact number of his victims is unknown. Estimates range from 30 to over 100.

victims: 49–90
Gary Leon Ridgway, known as the "Green River Killer", is one of America's most notorious serial killers, having committed at least 49 murders of women in Washington state between 1982 and 2001. Most of his victims were prostitutes or underage runaways. Ridgway began to be suspected in 1983, but his guilt was proved only in 1997 thanks to the results of DNA analysis. On December 18, 2003, the Green River Killer was sentenced to 48 terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the trial, Ridgway wept and asked for forgiveness from the relatives of his victims. He is currently serving his sentence in the maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, USA.

victims: 11–600
Henry Lee Lucas is the most famous and "prolific" American serial killer and cannibal. He has 11 proven murders on his account, although during the investigation he confessed to more than 300, of which only 213 can be regarded as more or less plausible. He was sentenced to death, but in 1998 the Texas Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, at the request of Governor George W. Bush, commuted Lucas's death sentence to life imprisonment. On March 13, 2001, he died of heart failure at the age of 64. Henry Lee Lucas was the subject of a 1986 psychological horror film based on a true story called Henry Lee Lucas.

Below is a list of the ten biggest natural disasters in human history. The rating is based on the number of deaths.

Earthquake in Aleppo

Death toll: about 230,000

The ranking of the largest natural disasters in the history of mankind opens with an earthquake in Aleppo with a magnitude of 8.5 on the Richter scale, which occurred in several stages near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria on October 11, 1138. It is often referred to as the fourth earthquake in history in terms of the number of deaths. According to the references of the Damascus chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi, approximately 230,000 people died as a result of this catastrophe.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

Number of victims: 225,000–300,000

An underwater earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of North Sumatra, 250 kilometers southeast of the city of Banda Aceh. It is considered one of the strongest earthquakes of the XX-XXI centuries. Its magnitude, according to various estimates, ranged from 9.1 to 9.3 on the Richter scale. Arising at a depth of about 30 km, the earthquake caused a series of devastating tsunamis, the height of which exceeded 15 meters. These waves caused enormous destruction and claimed the lives of, according to various estimates, from 225,000 to 300,000 people in 14 countries. The coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand suffered the most from the tsunami.

Death toll: 171,000–230,000

The Banqiao Dam is a dam on the Ruhe River, Henan Province, China. On August 8, 1975, due to the powerful typhoon Nina, the dam was destroyed, thereby causing flooding and a huge wave 10 km wide and 3–7 meters high. This disaster, according to various estimates, claimed the lives of from 171,000 to 230,000 people, of which about 26,000 died directly from the flood. The rest died from subsequent epidemics and famine. In addition, 11 million people have lost their homes.

Number of victims: 242,419

The Tangshan earthquake, measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale, is the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century. It happened on July 28, 1976 in the Chinese city of Tangshan at 3:42 local time. Its hypocenter was located near the industrial city of a millionaires at a depth of 22 km. Aftershocks with a power of 7.1 did even more damage. According to the Chinese government, the number of victims was 242,419 people, but according to other sources, about 800,000 people died, and another 164,000 were seriously injured. The earthquake also affected settlements located at a distance of 150 kilometers from the epicenter, including Tianjin and Beijing. More than 5,000,000 houses were completely destroyed.

Flood in Kaifeng

Death toll: 300,000–378,000

The Kaifeng flood is a man-made disaster that hit Kaifeng in the first place. This city is located on the south bank of the Yellow River in the Chinese province of Henan. In 1642, the city was flooded by the Yellow River after the Ming Dynasty army opened the dams to prevent the advance of Li Zicheng's troops. Then about 300,000-378,000 people died from the flood and the subsequent famine and plague.

Indian cyclone - 1839

Death toll: over 300,000

The fifth place in the ranking of the largest natural disasters in history is occupied by the Indian cyclone - 1839. On November 16, 1839, a 12-meter wave caused by a powerful storm completely destroyed the large port city of Koringa, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. More than 300,000 people died then. After the disaster, the city was never rebuilt. Now in its place is a small village with a population (2011) - 12,495 inhabitants.

Death toll: approximately 830,000

This earthquake, with a magnitude of approximately 8, occurred on January 23, 1556 in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. More than 97 districts were affected by it, everything was destroyed on an area of ​​​​840 km, and in some areas 60% of the population died. In total, the China earthquake claimed the lives of approximately 830,000 people - more than any other earthquake in human history. The huge number of victims is due to the fact that the majority of the population of the province lived in loess caves, which were destroyed or flooded by mudflows immediately after the first shocks.

Number of victims: 300,000–500,000

The most destructive tropical cyclone in history that hit the territories of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the Indian state of West Bengal on November 12, 1970. An estimated 300-500 thousand people died from it, mainly as a result of a 9 m high storm surge that flooded many low-lying islands in the Ganges delta. The sub-districts of Thani and Tazumuddin suffered the most from the cyclone, killing more than 45% of the population.

Death toll: about 900,000

This devastating flood occurred on September 28, 1887 in Henan Province, China. The reason for this was the torrential rains that had been falling here for many days. Due to the rains, the water level in the Yellow River rose and destroyed the dam, near the city of Zhengzhou. The water quickly spread throughout northern China, covering an area of ​​approximately 130,000 square kilometers. km, taking the lives of about 900 thousand people, and leaving about 2 million homeless.

Number of victims: 145,000–4,000,000

The largest natural disaster in the world is the flood in China, or rather a series of floods that occurred in 1931 in South-Central China. This catastrophe was preceded by a drought that lasted from 1928 to 1930. However, the following winter was very snowy, with a lot of rain in the spring, and during the summer months, the country suffered from heavy rains. All these facts contributed to the fact that the three largest rivers in China: the Yangtze, the Huaihe, the Yellow River overflowed their banks, taking the lives of, according to various sources, from 145 thousand to 4 million people. Also, the largest natural disaster in history caused epidemics of cholera and typhus, and also led to famine, during which cases of infanticide and cannibalism were recorded.

Unfortunately, these things happen. There are probably no right words to describe them, and God forbid to be in such situations.

We present to your attention the most terrible disasters in the world.

The worst plane crash ever

The rating "The most terrible plane crashes" is headed by Tenerife. The fatal collision of 2 Boeing-747 aircraft belonging to different companies (Boeing-747-206B - the brainchild of KLM, operated the next flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - the property of Pan American, operated flight 1736), happened on March 27, 1977 on the island of the Canary Islands , Tenerife, on the runway of Los Rodeos airport. Many people died - 583 people who were in these two planes. What exactly caused such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the imposition of unfavorable circumstances on each other played a cruel joke.

On that ill-fated Sunday spring day, Los Rodeos airport was very congested. Both aircraft were maneuvering on a narrow runway, including complex 135-180-degree turns. Interference in radio communication with the controller and between the pilots, poor weather conditions and visibility, misinterpretation of commands by the air traffic controller, the strong Spanish accent of the controller - all this inevitably led to disaster. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the dispatcher's command to abort the takeoff, at a time when the commander of the second Boeing reported that their huge aircraft was still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, the inevitable collision occurred, the fuselage of the Pan American Boeing was badly damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. A Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell onto the runway 150 meters from the point of impact and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft caught fire.

All 248 people from the Boeing KLM aircraft died. The second plane lost 326 passengers and nine crew members. In this most terrible plane crash, the American star of Playboy magazine, actress and model Eve Meyer, also died.

The worst man-made disaster

The worst disaster in the history of oil production is the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, built in 1976. It happened on 07/06/1988. According to experts, this terrible accident cost 3.4 billion US dollars and claimed the lives of 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burnt oil platform on Earth, owned by the American oil company Occidental Petroleum. There was a huge gas leak and, as a result, a colossal explosion. This happened as a result of ill-conceived actions of the maintenance personnel - the pipelines from the platform fed the general oil pipeline network, the supply of oil products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, waiting for the command of the higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes, the fire even engulfed residential complexes. And those who were able to survive after the first explosion were surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water were saved.

The worst disaster on the water

If you remember the biggest disasters on the water, then you immediately remember the pictures from the movie "Titanic", which is based on real events in 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the biggest disaster. The greatest maritime disaster was the sinking of the German ship "Wilhelm Gustlov" by a Soviet military submarine on 01/30/1945. There were almost 9,000 people on board the ship: 3,700 of them had completed elite training for military submariners, 3-4,000 representatives of the military elite who had been evacuated from Danzig. The tourist sightseeing ship was built in 1938. It was, as it seemed, an unsinkable 9-deck ocean liner, designed according to the latest technologies of that time.

Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, a church, a gym, restaurants, a cafe with a winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. With a length of 208 meters, he could go half the world without refueling. He could not sink a priori. But fate decreed otherwise. Under the command of A. I. Marinesko, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 conducted a military operation to destroy an enemy ship. Three torpedoes fired pierced the Wilhelm Gustloff. It immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one in the whole world can forget the most terrible catastrophe.

The biggest environmental disaster

The most terrible catastrophe from an ecological point of view of ecology is the death of the Aral Sea, which, before the drying up, scientists called the fourth lake by world standards. Although the sea is located on the territory of the former USSR, the disaster affected the entire world. Water was taken from it in uncontrolled volumes for irrigation of fields and gardens in order to ensure the fulfillment of political ambitions and unreasonable plans of Soviet leaders.
Over time, the coastline moved so deep into the lake that many species of fish and animals died, more than 60,000 people lost their jobs, shipping stopped, the climate changed - droughts became more frequent.

Worst nuclear disaster ever

A huge number of people are exposed to nuclear disasters. So in April 1986, one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive substances released into the atmosphere settled on nearby villages and cities. This accident is one of the most devastating of its kind. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the liquidation of the accident. Several hundred people died or were injured. A thirty-kilometer exclusion zone has been formed around the nuclear power plant. So far, the scale of the disaster has not been clarified.

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For centuries, natural disasters have not let go of humanity. Some happened so long ago that scientists cannot estimate the extent of the destruction. For example, it is believed that the Mediterranean island of Stroggli was razed to the ground by a volcanic eruption around 1500 BC. The resulting tsunami wiped out the entire Minoan civilization, but no one knows even the approximate number of deaths. However, the 10 most devastating disasters known, mostly earthquakes and floods, have killed approximately 10 million people.

10. Aleppo earthquake - 1138, Syria (Victims: 230,000)

One of the most powerful earthquakes known to mankind, and the fourth in terms of the number of victims (according to a rough estimate, over 230 thousand dead). The city of Aleppo, a large and populous urban center since antiquity, is geologically located along the northern part of a system of large geological faults, which also includes the Dead Sea depression, and which separate the Arabian and African tectonic plates, which are in constant interaction. The Damascus chronicler Ibn al-Kalanisi recorded the date of the earthquake - Wednesday, October 11, 1138, and also indicated the number of victims - over 230 thousand people. Such a number of victims and destruction shocked contemporaries, especially the western crusader knights, because then in northwestern Europe, where most of them were from, a rare city had a population of 10 thousand inhabitants. After the earthquake, the population of Aleppo recovered only by the beginning of the 19th century, when a population of 200 thousand inhabitants was again recorded in the city.

9. Indian Ocean Earthquake - 2004, Indian Ocean (Victims: 230,000+)

The third, and according to some estimates, the second largest, is the underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean, which took place on December 26, 2004. It caused a tsunami, which caused most of the damage. Scientists estimate the magnitude of the earthquake from 9.1 to 9.3 points. The epicenter was under water, north of Simeulue Island, northwest of Indonesian Sumatra. Huge waves reached the shores of Thailand, southern India and Indonesia. Then the height of the waves reached 15 meters. Many territories were subjected to huge destruction and casualties, including in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, which is 6900 km from the epicenter. The exact number of victims is unknown, but it is estimated from 225 to 300 thousand people. It will not be possible to calculate the true figure, since many bodies were simply carried away by water into the sea. It is curious, but a few hours before the arrival of the tsunami, many animals sensitively reacted to the impending disaster - they left the coastal zones, moving to higher ground.

8. Destruction of the Banqiao Dam - 1975, China (Victims: 231,000)

There are different estimates of the number of victims of the disaster. The official figure, about 26,000, takes into account only those directly drowned in the flood itself; taking into account the deaths from epidemics and famine that spread as a result of the disaster, the total number of victims is, according to various estimates, 171,000 or even 230,000. The dam was designed in such a way as to survive the largest floods that occur once every thousand years (306 mm of precipitation per day). However, in August 1975, the largest flood in 2000 years occurred as a result of the powerful typhoon Nina and several days of record storms. The flood caused a huge wave of water 10 kilometers wide, 3-7 meters high. The tide in an hour went 50 kilometers from the coast and reached the plains, created artificial lakes there with a total area of ​​12,000 square kilometers. Seven provinces were flooded, including thousands of square kilometers of countryside and countless communications.

7. Tangshan earthquake - 1976, China (Victims: 242,000)

The second strongest earthquake also occurred in China. On July 28, 1976, the Tangshan earthquake took place in Hebei Province. Its magnitude was 8.2, which makes it the largest natural disaster of the century. The official death toll was 242,419. However, most likely the figure was underestimated by the PRC authorities by 3-4 times. This suspicion is based on the fact that according to Chinese documents, the magnitude of the earthquake is only 7.8. Tangshan was almost immediately destroyed by powerful aftershocks, the epicenter of which was at a depth of 22 km under the city. Even Tianjin and Beijing, which are located 140 kilometers from the epicenter, were destroyed. The consequences of the disaster were terrible - 5.3 million houses were destroyed and damaged to such an extent that it was impossible to live in them. The number of victims increased due to the subsequent series of aftershocks to 7.1 points. Today in the center of Tangshan there is a stele that reminds of the terrible catastrophe, there is also an information center dedicated to those events. It is a kind of museum on this subject, the only one in China.

6 Kaifeng Flood - 1642, China (Victims: 300,000)

Long-suffering China again. Formally, this disaster can be considered natural, but it was arranged by human hands. In 1642, a peasant uprising took place in China, led by Li Zicheng. The rebels approached the city of Kaifeng. In order to prevent the rebels from capturing the city, the command of the Ming Dynasty troops gave the order to flood the city and its surroundings with the waters of the Yellow River. When the water receded and the famine caused by artificial flooding ended, it turned out that out of 600,000 people in the city and its environs, only half survived. At that time, it was one of the bloodiest punitive actions in history.

5. Cyclone in India - 1839, India (Victims: 300,000+)

Although the photo of the cyclone does not belong to 1839, it can be used to appreciate the full power of this natural phenomenon. The Indian cyclone of 1839 was not destructive in itself, but it produced powerful tidal waves that killed 300,000 people. Tidal waves completely destroyed the city of Coringa and sank 20,000 ships that were in the bay of the city.

4. Great Chinese earthquake - 1556 (Victims: 830,000)

In 1556, the most destructive earthquake in the history of mankind, called the Great China Earthquake, took place. It happened on January 23, 1556 in Shaanxi province. Historians believe that the natural disaster claimed the lives of about 830 thousand people, more than any other similar event. Some areas of Shaanxi were completely depopulated, while in the rest more than half of the people died. Such a huge number of victims was explained by the fact that most of the inhabitants lived in loess caves, which immediately collapsed during the first shocks or were subsequently flooded by mudflows. According to modern estimates, this earthquake was assigned a category of 11 points. One of the eyewitnesses warned his descendants that with the onset of a disaster, one should not rush headlong into the street: "When a bird's nest falls from a tree, the eggs often remain unharmed." Such words are evidence that many people died while trying to leave their homes. The destructiveness of the earthquake is evidenced by the ancient steles of Xi'an, collected in the local Beilin Museum. Many of them crumbled or cracked. During the cataclysm, the Wild Goose Pagoda located here survived, but its foundation sank by 1.6 meters.

3. Cyclone Bhola - 1970 (Victims: 500,000 - 1,000,000)

A devastating tropical cyclone that hit East Pakistan and Indian West Bengal on November 12, 1970. The deadliest tropical cyclone and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history. About half a million people lost their lives as a result of the impact of the storm tide, which flooded many low-lying islands in the Ganges delta. It was the sixth storm cyclone in the 1970 northern Indian Ocean hurricane season and the strongest of the year.
The cyclone formed over the central part of the Bay of Bengal on November 8, after which it began to move north, gaining strength. It reached its peak power on the evening of 12 November and made contact with the coastline of East Pakistan that same night. The storm surge devastated numerous offshore islands, sweeping away entire villages and destroying the region's farmlands in its wake. In the most affected area of ​​the country - upazila Tazumuddin - more than 45% of the 167,000 population died.
Political implications
The clumsy pace of the rescue effort only added to the anger and resentment in East Pakistan and fueled the local resistance movement. Subsidies were slow to arrive, transports slowly delivering much-needed funds to storm-ravaged areas. In March 1971, the tension was constantly growing, foreign specialists began to leave the province, fearing bursts of violence. In the future, the situation continued to deteriorate and escalated into a war for independence, which began on March 26. Later, in December of the same year, this conflict expanded into the third Indo-Pakistani war, which culminated in the creation of the state of Bangladesh. The events that took place can be considered one of the first cases when a natural phenomenon provoked a civil war, the subsequent external intervention of a third force and the disintegration of one country into two independent states.

2. Flood in the Yellow River Valley - 1887, China (Victims: 900,000 - 2,000,000)

One of the most terrible floods in the modern history of mankind, which, according to various sources, claimed from 1.5 to 7 million human lives, happened in the late spring of 1887 in the northern provinces of China, in the Yellow River valley. Heavy rains over almost all of Hunan that spring caused the river to flood. The first flood occurred at a sharp bend, in the vicinity of the city of Zhangzhou.
Day after day, the bubbling waters invaded the territories of cities, destroying and devastating them. In total, 600 cities along the banks of the river were affected by the flood, including the walled city of Hunan. The swift current continued to wash away fields, animals, cities and people, flooding an area 70 km wide with water up to 15 meters deep.
Water often against the wind and tide slowly flooded terrace after terrace, each of which accumulated from 12 to 100 families. Of the 10 houses, only one or two survived. Half of the buildings were hidden under water. People were lying on the roofs of houses, and the old people who did not die of hunger were dying of cold.
The tops of the poplars that once stood along the roads stuck out of the water like seaweed. Here and there strong men were held behind old trees with thick branches and called for help. In one place, a box with a dead child was nailed to a tree, which was placed there for safety by his parents. The box contained food and a note with a name on it. In another place, a family was found, all members of which had died, the child was placed on the highest place ... well covered with clothes.
The devastation and devastation left after the waters receded were simply terrible. Statistics have not been able to cope with the task - to calculate. By 1889, when the Yellow River finally returned to its course, disease was added to all the misfortunes of the flood. It is estimated that half a million people died of cholera.

1. Great flood - 1931, China (Victims: 1,000,000 - 4,000,000)

The summer monsoon season of 1931 was unusually stormy. Heavy rains and tropical cyclones raged in the river basins. The dams withstood heavy rains and storms for weeks, but they eventually broke down and collapsed in hundreds of places. Approximately 333,000 hectares of land were flooded, at least 40,000,000 people lost their homes, and crop losses were enormous. In large areas, the water did not drain from three to six months. Disease, lack of food, lack of shelter led to the death of a total of 3.7 million people.
One of the epicenters of the tragedy was the city of Gaoyu in the northern province of Jiangsu. On August 26, 1931, a powerful typhoon struck the fifth largest lake in China, Gaoyu. The water level in it has already risen to a record high as a result of heavy rains in previous weeks. A squally wind raised high waves that beat against the dams. After midnight the battle was lost. The dams were broken in six places, and the largest gap reached almost 700 m. A stormy stream swept through the city and the province. In one morning alone, about 10,000 people died in Gaoyu.