Worst Natural Disasters You Didn’t Know About

Our planet has a way of throwing some crazy and unpredictable things at us, and this is where you’ll find some of the worst of the worst in history. From blizzards in the desert to tsunamis with unimaginable power, we’ll show you the deadliest and most destructive natural acts ever to affect the human race. Welcome to Worst Natural Disasters You Didn’t Know About.

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5. Mount Tambora Eruption
Well, this is brutal. Roughly 1.5 million people live on the island of Sumbawa, which belongs to Indonesia. In 1815, between 70 and 100,000 people lost their lives in seconds when a volcano named Mount Tambora erupted. Tambora is 8,930 feet high, and it’s only about half as big now as it once was. The 1815 eruption was so strong that the volcano blew the top third of itself off. A 12-cubic mile ash, dust, and gas cloud, and almost immediately claimed nearly the entire islands population. Tsunamis spewed forth in every direction, and 36 cubic miles of rock, aerosols, and ash were injected into our atmosphere. That cloud blocked the sun and brought the average temperature of the entire world down 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit, and everyone felt it. Crops failed, and famine began and to top it all off, the eruption changed the weather, causing snow and deadly frost to occur in the summertime in some countries. You can imagine that that added to the volcano’s deadliness.

4. Bohla Cyclone
In 1970, the deadliest cyclone to ever take place happened in what is now Bangladesh. Both Pakistan and India weren’t communicating things with each other at the time due to high tensions. They didn’t even tell each other about significant events such as cyclones, although they share a very cyclone-prone coastline. Bangladesh was called East Pakistan at the time, and their government ignored warnings, recommendations, and a disaster plan that could have saved many lives. Instead, the Bohla Cyclone raged through the area and took out about 45% of the population of a city called Tazumuddin. Tides climbed up to nearly 20 feet, and winds topped 140 mph. Following the event, an election was held, replacing those in power with the Awami League, who escalated conflicts and started the Bangladesh Liberation War. This led to the birth of Bangladesh, and one could say the Bohla Cyclone was responsible for it.

3. Shaanxi Earthquake
China has a land area of 3,705,407 square miles and is the fourth-largest country in the world. Roughly 500 years ago, the massive Shaanxi Earthquake rattled about a third of the vast nation. The quake hit at a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3 and wholly devastated 97 counties throughout the region. Every single building in Huaxian was basically obliterated, and many other cities were left in about the same condition. The Shaanxi Earthquake wasn’t the strongest quake in history, but the loss of life was so significant because it hit an immensely populated area, causing some catastrophic problems. Yaodongs, or dwellings carved into soft rock, were popular at the time but highly unsound structurally, and many people were crushed when their yaodongs collapsed. Historians guess that around 830,000 people perished in this terrible natural disaster.

2. Huge Earthquake in Crete
This gigantic and deadly tsunami took place on July 21, 265 AD. How do we know about this crazy event that happened so long ago? One man, Ammianus Marcellinus, a historian, took very detailed notes and made sure to capture the events that occurred, kind of like a play-by-play. We know that Crete, a Greek island, had every city on it destroyed in seconds by an earthquake, which also caused insane amounts of damage in many of the surrounding countries. Libya, Cyprus, Egypt, Spain, Sicily, and Greece were all hit hard, and the quake was so strong that it even raised parts of Crete nearly thirty feet! It caused a tsunami that devastated many places, including Alexandria in Egypt, and in some areas, sent waves and boats inland around 2 miles. Experts guessed between 300,000 and 500,000 lost their lives in the devastating event.

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