The worst catastrophes on the planet. Major catastrophes of the 20th century
From TV screens, from radio receivers, from newspapers, from endless newscasts, we learn about tragedies, accidents and all sorts of things. Consider the worst catastrophes in the world.
The worst plane crash
The rating "The worst 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 airline, performed another flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - property of Pan American, operated flight 1736), happened on 03/27/1977 on the island of the Canary group , Tenerife, on the runway of Los Rodeo 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 has played a cruel joke.
Los Rodeos airport was very congested on that ill-fated Sunday spring day. Both aircraft performed narrow runway maneuvers, including difficult turns of 135-180 degrees. Interference in radio communications with the controller and between pilots, poor weather and visibility, misinterpretation of commands by the air traffic controller, the controller's strong Spanish accent - all this inevitably led to disaster. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the controller's command to interrupt the takeoff, while the Boeing commander reports that their huge plane is still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, an inevitable collision occurred, the Pan American Boeing's fuselage was severely damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell into the runway 150 meters from the point of collision and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft ignited.
All 248 people from the Boeing KLM plane were killed. The second plane killed 326 passengers and nine crew members. In this most terrible plane crash, the American Playboy star, actress and model Yves 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. Experts estimate that the terrible accident cost US $ 3.4 billion and killed 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burned-out 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-considered actions of the maintenance personnel - pipelines from the platform fed the general oil pipeline network, the supply of oil products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, waiting for a command from higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes, the fire engulfed even residential complexes. And those who were able to survive after the first explosion were surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water escaped.
The worst disaster on the water
If you remember the biggest catastrophes on the water, then you immediately remember the pictures from the movie "Titanic", which is based on the real events of 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the biggest disaster. The greatest sea disaster - the sinking of the German motor ship "Wilhelm Gustlov" by a Soviet military submarine on January 30, 1945. There were almost 9 thousand people on board the ship: 3,700 of them graduated from elite training as military submariners, 3-4 thousand representatives of the military elite who were evacuated from Danzig. The tourist excursion ship was built in 1938. It was, as it seemed, an unsinkable 9-deck ocean liner, designed according to the latest technologies of the time.
Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, a church, a gym, restaurants, cafes with a winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. With a length of 208 meters, it could travel 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 carried out a military operation to destroy the enemy ship. Three torpedoes fired pierced the Wilhelm Gustlov. He immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one all over the world can forget the most terrible catastrophe.
The biggest environmental disaster
The most terrible catastrophe from an ecological point of view of ecology is considered the death of the Aral Sea, which before the beginning of drying up scientists called the fourth lake in the world. Although the sea is located on the territory of the former USSR, the disaster affected the whole world. Water was taken from it in uncontrolled volumes for irrigation of fields and orchards, in order to ensure the fulfillment of political ambitions and unreasonable plans of the 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.
Disasters have been known for a long time - these are volcanic eruptions, powerful earthquakes, and tornadoes. In the last century, there have been many water disasters and terrible nuclear disasters.
The worst water disasters
Man has been sailing on sailing ships, boats, ships across the vastness of the oceans and seas for hundreds of years. During this time, there have been a huge number of disasters, shipwrecks and accidents.In 1915, a German submarine torpedoed a British passenger liner. The ship sank in eighteen minutes, being thirteen kilometers off the coast of Ireland. One thousand one hundred and ninety-eight people died.
In April 1944, a terrible catastrophe occurred in the port of Bombay. It all started with the fact that when unloading a single-screw steamer, which was loaded with gross violations of safety regulations, a powerful explosion occurred. It is known that the ship was carrying one and a half tons of explosives, several tons of cotton, sulfur, timber, gold bars. After the first explosion, the second one sounded. The burning cotton scattered within a radius of nearly a kilometer. Almost all ships, warehouses burned, fires began in the city. It was possible to extinguish them only after two weeks. As a result, about two and a half thousand people ended up in hospitals, one thousand three hundred seventy-six people were killed. The port was restored only after seven months.
The most famous of the water disasters is the sinking of the Titanic. Having collided with an iceberg during the first voyage, the ship sank. More than one and a half thousand people died.
In December 1917, the French warship Mont Blanc collided with the Norwegian ship Imo near the city of Halifax. There was a huge explosion, which led to the destruction of not only the port, but also part of the city. The fact is that the Mont Blanc was loaded exclusively with explosives. About two thousand people died, nine thousand were injured. This is the most powerful explosion of the pre-nuclear era.
Three thousand one hundred and thirty people died on a French cruiser after a torpedo attack by a German submarine in 1916. As a result of torpedoing the German floating hospital "General Steuben" killed about three thousand six hundred and eight people.
In December 1987, a Filipino passenger ferry named Dona Paz collided with the tanker Vector. In this case, four thousand three hundred seventy-five people died.
In May 1945, a tragedy occurred in the Baltic Sea, which claimed the lives of about eight thousand people. The Tilbeck cargo ship and the Cap Arcona liner came under fire from British aircraft. As a result of the torpedoing of the ship "Goya" by the Soviet submarine in the spring of 1945, six thousand nine hundred people died.
"Wilhelm Gustlov" was the name of the German passenger liner sunk by a submarine under the command of Marinesco in January 1945. The exact number of victims is unknown, it is approximately nine thousand people.
The worst disasters in Russia
There are several terrible disasters that have occurred on the territory of Russia. So, in June 1989, not far from Ufa, one of the largest railway accidents in Russia occurred. There was a huge explosion as two passenger trains passed. An unlimited cloud of fuel-air mixture exploded, which was formed due to an accident on a nearby pipeline. According to some sources, five hundred seventy-five people died, according to others - six hundred and forty-five. Another six hundred people were injured. 
The most terrible ecological catastrophe on the territory of the former USSR is considered the death of the Aral Sea. For a number of reasons: soil, social, biological, the Aral Sea has almost completely dried up in fifty years. Most of its tributaries in the sixties were used for irrigation and some other agricultural needs. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. As the influx of fresh water was significantly reduced, the lake gradually died.
In the summer of 2012, a massive flood occurred in the Krasnodar Territory. It is considered the largest disaster in Russia. For two July days, a five-month rainfall fell. The city of Krymsk was almost completely washed away by water. 179 people were officially declared dead, of which 159 were residents of Krymsk. More than 34 thousand local residents suffered.
The worst nuclear disasters
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. The radioactive substances that got 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 were killed or injured. A thirty-kilometer exclusion zone has been formed around the nuclear power plant. Until now, the scale of the disaster has not been clarified.In Japan, in March 2011, an explosion occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant during an earthquake. Because of this, a large amount of radioactive substances entered the atmosphere. At first, officials kept silent about the scale of the disaster.
After the Chernobyl disaster, the most significant is the nuclear accident that occurred in 1999 in the Japanese city of Tokaimura. An accident occurred at a uranium processing plant. Six hundred people received radiation, four people died.
The worst catastrophe in the history of mankind
The explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is considered the most destructive catastrophe for the biosphere in the entire history of mankind. The platform itself went under water after the explosion. As a result, a huge volume of oil products got into the world's oceans. The spill lasted one hundred and fifty-two days. The oil slick covered an area equal to seventy-five thousand square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico. 
In terms of the number of victims, the most ambitious disaster is considered, which occurred in India in the city of Bhapol in December 1984. A chemical leak occurred at one of the factories. Eighteen thousand people died. Until now, the causes of this catastrophe are not fully understood.
It is impossible not to say about the worst fire that occurred in London in 1666. The fire spread with lightning speed throughout the city, about seventy thousand houses were destroyed, about eighty thousand people died. The fire lasted four days.
Not only catastrophes are terrible, but also entertainment. The site has a rating of the scariest rides in the world.
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Most dictionaries interpret the basic meaning of the word "catastrophe" as an event with tragic consequences. It is precisely such events that still terrify our contemporaries with their scale and the number of dead people and animals, the history of our planet has not so few. The most terrible disasters sometimes influenced the further development of the affected countries or even the entire civilization.
With the development of technology, people began to explore such unsuitable ocean expanses for their existence, and then turned their dreams and aspirations to the sky. With the advent of huge ocean cruisers, multi-seat passenger airliners, the number of people killed and injured in disasters has increased significantly. In the last century, man-made disasters have been added, which can also be called one of the most ambitious.
Largest civil aviation plane crash
The worst plane crashes include Tenerife, which resulted in the death of 583 people. It all happened on March 27, 1977 directly on the runway of Los Rodeos airport, located near the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands). All passengers of the KLM Boeing were killed, including 14 crew members, with the exception of one passenger, Robina Van Lanscot, who decided to interrupt the flight to meet a friend and got off in Tenerife. But on board the Pan American Boeing after the crash were the survivors. 61 people managed to escape - 54 passengers and 7 crew members.
Due to the terrorist attack that occurred on the eve of the largest airport in the Canary Islands, Las Palmas, it was closed, and the airport of Los Rodeos in connection with these events was severely congested. It was a day off, and many planes that were not accepted by Las Palmas filled all the parking lots. Some of them stood on the taxiways. The reasons that led to the terrible disaster are known:
- fog, due to which the visibility was initially limited to 300 meters, and a little later became even less;
- lack of lights at the borders of the runway and taxiway;
- a strong Spanish accent of the controller, which the pilots did not understand well, they asked again and clarified his orders;
- the lack of coordinated actions on the part of the pilots during negotiations with the dispatcher, they entered into a conversation and interrupted each other.
KLM subsequently claimed responsibility for the tragedy and paid substantial compensation to the families of the victims and injured.
On May 5, 1937, a German cruise ship named after Wilhelm Gustloff, one of the leaders of the Swiss National Socialists, who had died a year earlier, was launched.
The passenger liner had ten decks, was designed for 1.5 thousand people, it was served by 417 crew members. The vessel was built using the most advanced technologies and was very comfortable. The liner was intended primarily for long and leisurely cruises. In 1939, "Wilhelm Gustloff" was transferred to the German Navy. Soon it became a floating hospital, and then, after 1940, it was assigned to the diving school in Gotenhafen. His color became camouflage again, and he lost the protection of the Hague Convention.
After a torpedo attack by a Soviet submarine under the command of A.I. Marinescu, "Wilhelm 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.
On November 7, 1941, near the Crimean coast, Hitler's aircraft sunk the Soviet motor ship "Armenia", on board which, presumably, there were more than 3,000 people.
From the point of view of ecology, one of the largest catastrophes is currently taking place on the planet - a decrease in the level of the Aral Sea and its drying out. The so-called Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake on the planet after the Caspian Sea (which, due to its isolation, can qualify as a lake), Lake Superior in North America and Lake Victoria in Africa.
But after the runoffs of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, which fed the Aral, began to flow through the constructed irrigation systems, the lake became crumbly. In the summer of 2014, its eastern part practically dried up, the volume of water decreased to 10%.
All this led to climate change, which became continental. The sandy-salt desert Aralkum appeared on the bottom of the former sea. Dust storms carry the smallest particles of salt interspersed with pesticides and agricultural fertilizers, which at one time got into the Aral Sea from the fields through the rivers and can negatively affect the health of people and animals. Due to salinity, most species of marine life have disappeared, ports have closed, people have lost their jobs.
Such disasters, affecting the population of the entire planet with their destructive consequences, first of all, include the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. During the explosion of the fourth nuclear reactor, it was completely destroyed. Elimination of the consequences has not yet been completed. After April 26, 1986, all people - 135,000 people and 35,000 head of cattle - were evacuated from the crash site within a radius of 30 km. A guarded exclusion zone was created. Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia suffered the most from radioactive substances released into the air. In other countries, an increase in the radioactive background was also noted. More than 600,000 people took part in eliminating the consequences of this disaster.
The largest earthquake in Japan, which occurred on March 11, 2011, and then the tsunami, caused a radiation accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, which has the highest, seventh level. External power supplies and standby diesel generators were put out of action, which led to a failure in the cooling system, and then the melting of the reactor core at 1, 2, 3 power units. The total financial damage, which includes decontamination work, compensation for victims and internally displaced persons, is approximately $ 189 billion.
Another catastrophe that affected the state of the entire biosphere of the Earth is the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that happened on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill caused by the accident was the largest. At the moment of the explosion itself and in the subsequent fire on the semi-submersible installation, 11 people died and 17 of 126 were injured, who were on the platform at that moment. Two more died later. Oil flowed into the gulf for 152 days; in total, more than 5 million barrels fell into the gulf. This man-made disaster had a devastating effect on the ecology of the entire region. Various species of marine animals, fish and birds were affected. And in the north of the Gulf of Mexico, in the same year, an increased mortality of cetaceans was recorded. In addition to oil, a large number of underwater oil plumes were formed on the water surface (the slick size reached 75,000 km²), the length of which reached 16 km, and the width and height, respectively, 5 km and 90 m.
These are just a few terrible accidents that can be classified as the worst disasters in the history of mankind, but there were others, sometimes lesser known, that brought people a lot of destruction and misfortune. Often these disasters were caused by war or a whole series of accidents, and in some cases the destructive force of nature brought grief.
Disasters often happen because of the ridiculous coincidence of events and lead to irreparable consequences. Recently, environmental disasters most often occur, leaving huge scars on the body of our planet. We have prepared a selection of the largest disasters that have cost humanity record amounts. So, to your attention 10 of the largest and most expensive man-made disasters, most of which occurred during the last century.
In the first place is the most global man-made ecological disaster - the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This catastrophe cost the world 200 billion dollars, despite the fact that the liquidation work is not even half completed. On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former USSR. More than 135,000 people living within 30 kilometers (19 miles) of the destroyed reactor - and 35,000 head of livestock - were evacuated; an unprecedented exclusion zone was created around the station located near the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. In this forbidden territory, nature had to cope with the high radiation levels caused by the disaster on its own. As a result, the exclusion zone essentially turned into a gigantic laboratory where an experiment was carried out - what happens to plants and animals in conditions of catastrophic nuclear contamination of the area? Immediately after the disaster, when everyone was worried about the dire consequences of radioactive fallout on human health, few thought about what would happen to wildlife inside the zone - and even more so about monitoring what was happening.
The Chernobyl disaster will remain the largest and most costly environmental disaster for a long time. In second place is the explosion of the American shuttle Columbia, which cost $ 13 billion, which is 20 times less in cost, and millions of times less in terms of environmental impact. 
Shuttle Columbia was the first operational reusable orbiter. It was manufactured in 1979 and transferred to the Kennedy Space Center of NASA. The shuttle Columbia was named after the sailboat Captain Robert Gray explored the inland waters of British Columbia in May 1792. Space shuttle Columbia was killed in a disaster on February 1, 2003, while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, prior to landing. This was Columbia's 28th space trip. The information from the hard drive of Colombia was restored, the reasons for the crash were identified, which made it possible to avoid such disasters in the future. 
In third place is again an ecological disaster. On November 13, 2002, the oil tanker Prestige exploded, sending 77,000 tons of fuel into the ocean, making it the largest oil spill in European history. Losses in the course of work to eliminate the oil slick amounted to $ 12 billion. 
Fourth place - the death of the Challenger shuttle. There was no sign of tragedy during the launch of Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, but 73 seconds after launch, it exploded. American taxpayers cost the accident $ 5.5 billion. 
In fifth place, the explosion on the oil platform Piper Alpha - occurred on July 6, 1988, which is recognized as the worst disaster in the history of the oil industry. The accident cost $ 3.4 billion. 
Piper Alpha is the world's only burned-out oil platform. As a result of a gas leak and the subsequent explosion, as well as as a result of ill-considered and indecisive actions of the personnel, 167 people out of 226 who were at that moment on the platform died, only 59 survived. Immediately after the explosion on the platform, oil and gas production was stopped, however, due to the fact that the platform pipelines were connected to a common network, through which hydrocarbons were transported from other platforms, and for those platforms, the production and supply of oil and gas to the pipeline was not decided to stop (they were waiting for the permission of the top management of the company), a huge amount of hydrocarbons continued to flow through the pipelines, which supported the fire. 
Ecology is in sixth place. Exxon Valdez Tanker Oil Spill - On March 24, 1989 This is the largest oil spill in the history of mankind. More than 11 million gallons of oil got into the water. To eliminate the consequences of this environmental disaster, $ 2.5 billion was spent. 
Seventh place - the explosion of the B-2 stealth bomber. The crash occurred on February 23, 2008, and cost US taxpayers $ 1.5 million. Fortunately, no one was hurt, only financial costs followed. 
Eighth place - Metrolink passenger train wreck. The train collision that occurred on September 12, 2008 in California is more of a negligence. Two trains collided, killed 25, MetroLink lost $ 500 million 
In ninth place, the collision of a fuel tanker and a car took place on August 26, 2004 on the Wiehltal bridge in Germany. This disaster, which occurred on August 26, 2004, can be attributed to road accidents. They often happen, but this one surpassed everything in scale. The car, driving across the bridge at full speed, crashed into a full fuel tanker going to the meeting, an explosion occurred, which practically destroyed the bridge. By the way, $ 358 million was spent on the restoration work of the bridge. 
The sinking of the Titanic closes the top ten most expensive disasters. The tragedy took place on April 15, 1912 and took away 1,523 human lives. The cost of building the ship was $ 7 million (in terms of today's exchange rate - $ 150 million).
It should be added that the list was compiled by the American portal WreckedExotics as a result of a careful assessment of many factors. I also advise you to study the compilation on the negative impact of man on nature, where there is also something to think about.
The war takes away tens of thousands of human lives, but even the most bloody cannot compare with the elements: the planet does not spare us - and does not even pay attention to the number of victims suffered from cyclones, floods and other terrible disasters. Which is worse - a tornado or a fire? What are the chances of surviving a volcanic eruption? And what about an avalanche? Unfortunately, the answer in both cases is minimal. We have collected 10 of the most terrible natural disasters in the history of mankind: apparently, nature is beginning, gradually, to punish us for the imprudent destruction of the planet.
The eruption of the Mont Pele volcano
1902 On May 8, 1902, the Mont Pele volcano, which had been peacefully dormant for decades, unexpectedly exploded. This catastrophe simply cannot be called an eruption: lava flows and pieces of rock literally destroyed the main port of Martinique, Saint-Pierre. As many as 36,000 people died in just a few minutes.
Flooding in China
1931 The beginning of the 31st year was a terrible test for the entire people of China. A series of terrible floods, which modern historians call the largest natural disaster in the history of mankind, claimed nearly 4 million lives.
Fire in Kursha-2
1936 The summer of 1936 was very hot. A fire that had started near the village was blown up by the wind. The fire moved towards the people. At night, a train approached the village, work began to save the logging. At the very end, when the danger was very high, the train moved away - the villagers were sitting on logs. When the train approached the canal, the wooden bridge was already on fire. From him the train loaded with logs began. People were burning alive. About 1200 people died in one night.
Avalanche Huascarana
1970 An earthquake off the coast of Peru destabilized the northern slope of the stately two-humped Mount Huascaran. An avalanche of ice and rock rushed down at 180 miles per hour. The town of Jungau, located on the spur of the Huascarana, has already encountered 80 million cubic meters of mud, ice and snow. None of the 25,000 inhabitants of the village survived.
Cyclone Bhola
1970 This tropical cyclone is recognized as one of the most devastating natural disasters in the modern world. The storm tide that hit the islands of the Ganges delta claimed the lives of half a million people. Once again, think about this number: 500,000 people died in just one day.
Storm in Iran
1972 A terrible snow storm lasted a whole week: the rural areas of Iran were completely covered with a three-meter layer of snow. Some villages were literally buried under avalanches. Subsequently, the authorities counted as many as 4,000 people killed.
Tanshan earthquake
1976 This natural disaster occurred in the Chinese city of Tangshan. At about four o'clock in the morning, at a depth of 22 kilometers, there was a strong earthquake. The city was destroyed to the ground, none of the 655,000 people survived.
Tornado in Daulatpur
1989 A deadly tornado, the radius of which exceeded 1.5 kilometers, was noticed by observers on the morning of April 26. A little later, this giant struck Bangladesh. The power of the tornado was enough to easily lift entire houses into the air. People were literally torn to pieces: in just a day, about one and a half thousand people died, another 12 thousand ended up in the hospital.
European heat
2003 The heat wave that broke out in the summer of 2003 claimed the lives of 70,000 people. According to the authorities, the local health care system was simply not designed for such an incredible burden. It is noteworthy that forecasters claim a recurrence of such a heat attack approximately every thirteen years.
