Disasters Events

1650BC
to 1450BC
Minoan Eruption of Thera
The eruption of Santorini in Greece in 1,650 B.C. was one of the largest (VEI=6) in the last 10,000 years. About 7 cubic miles (30 cubic km) of rhyodacite magma was erupted. The plinian c...
226BC Rhodes Earthquake
The Colossus only stood for 56 years before it was levelled by an earthquake in 226 BC. The force of the earthquake was such the statue snapped off at the knees and fell over on to the la...
79 Aug 24 Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. They were never rebuilt, although surviving townspeople ...
365 Jul 21 Crete Earthquake of 365 AD
The 365 AD Crete earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred at about sunrise on 21 July 365 AD in the Eastern Mediterranean, with an assumed epicentre near Crete. Geologists toda...
856 Dec 22 Damghan Earthquake
The Damghan Earthquake was an earthquake of magnitude 8.0, that struck a 200-mile (320 km) stretch of Iran on 22 December, 856 A.D. The earthquake's epicenter was said to be directly belo...
1202 May 20 Syria Earthquake of 1202
The 1202 Syria earthquake struck at about dawn on 20 May 1202 (598 AH) with an epicenter in southwestern Syria. Up to 1,100,000 deaths have been associated with this earthquake, although ...
1287 Dec 14 St. Lucia's Flood
St. Lucia's flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on December 14, 1287 (the day after St. Lucia Day) when a dike broke during a storm...
1347 The Black Death First Appears in Europe
Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the ep...
1360 Apr 13 Black Monday Hail Storm
On so-called "Black Monday" in 1360, a hail storm kills an estimated 1,000 English soldiers in Chartres, France. The storm and the devastation it caused also played a part in the Hundred ...
1362 Jan 16 Grote Mandrenke Storm
The storm Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning of Men) strikes the Netherlands in January 1362. Hurricane-force winds with enormous waves and a considerable sea level rise (a storm surge) due ...
1421 Nov 18
to 1421 Nov 19
 St. Elizabeth's Flood of 1421
The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was a flooding of an area in what is now the Netherlands. It takes its name from the feast day of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary which was formerly November ...
1545 Jul 18 Wreck of the Mary Rose
The Mary Rose was one of the earliest ships to carry heavy guns. She was a favourite of King Henry VIII and sank off Portsmouth in 1545 during an engagement with a French invasion fleet...
1556 Jan 23 Shaanxi Earthquake
The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Jiajing earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake and is also the deadliest earthquake on record, killing approximately 830,000 people in China. It occurred ...
1654 Oct 12 Delft Explosion
The catastrophe is know as "The Delft Thunderclap" from the town where it happened, and took place at 11 in the forenoon of 12th October, 1654. At that hour the powder magazine, which the...
1665 Apr 12 The Great Plague of London
Plague was not a new disease for London in 1665. In that year it just happened that conditions meant that all was in place for an epidemic: a mild winter that did not massively decrease t...
1666 Sep 2
to 1666 Sep 5
 Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gu...
1669 Mar 8 Eruption of Mount Etna
When Etna began to rumble and belch gas on March 8, the residents nearby ignored the warning signs of a larger eruption. Three days later, the volcano began spewing out noxious fumes in l...
1687 The Great Copper Mountain of Falun, Sweden caves in on Midsummer's Eve.
1693 Jan 11 Sicily Earthquake of 1693
On the 11th of January 1693 a huge earthquake destroyed at least 45 cities, affecting an area of 5600 square kilometres and causing the death of more than 60 000 people - about half of th...
1703 Nov 24
to 1703 Dec 2
 Great Storm of 1703
The Great Storm of 1703 was the most severe storm or natural disaster ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain. It affected southern England and the English Channel in the King...
1707 Oct 22 Scilly Naval Disaster of 1707
On the 22nd October 1707 the Isles of Scilly bore witness to the second worst disaster in the history of the Royal Navy. The British naval fleet, under the command of Sir Clowdisley Sh...
1755 Nov 1 Great Lisbon Earthquake
On November 1st 1755, at about 9:40 a.m., an enormous earthquake, followed by a tidal wave and a succession of fires, devastated the city of Lisbon. Thousands of people perished under the...
1775 Aug 29
to 1775 Sep 9
 Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775
A storm struck the eastern coast of Newfoundland on September 9, 1775. It is uncertain if this storm was the remnants of the hurricane that had crossed the Outer Banks over a week earlier...
1780 Oct 10
to 1780 Oct 16
 Great Hurricane of 1780
The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as the Hurricane San Calixto II, is the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. Over 27,500 people died when the storm passed through the Lesser An...
1782 Aug 29 Sinking of HMS Royal George
The first-rate ship HMS Royal George was laid down as the Royal Anne but renamed in honour of the reigning monarch George II before her launch in 1756. The first warship to exceed 2,000 t...
1783 Feb 5
to 1783 Mar 28
 Calabrian Earthquake of 1783
February 5 This earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.0, affected a large area including most of the southern Italian peninsula and shook the whole of Sicily. Many villages were...
1810 Dec 22 Loss of HMS Minotaur
MINOTAUR was wrecked on the Haak Sand near the Texel on 22 December 1810. The 2nd lieutenant and eight midshipmen with 100 men were saved and made prisoner; the rest, numbering about ...
1811 Dec 16 New Madrid Earthquake of 1812
In the past three centuries, major earthquakes outside of California and Alaska generally occurred in sparsely-settled areas, and damage and fatalities were largely minimal. But some took...
1812 Mar 26 Caracas Earthquake of 1812
The 1812 Caracas earthquake took place in Venezuela on March 26, 1812 (on Maundy Thursday) at 4:37 p.m. It measured 7.7 on the Richter magnitude scale. It caused extensive damage in Carac...
1812 May 25 Felling Mine Disaster
On the 25th of May, 1812, an explosion occurred at Brandling Main, of Felling Colliery, near Gateshead-on-Tyne, which was attended with a more appalling loss of life than any like calamit...
1814 Oct 17 London Beer Flood
The London Beer Flood occurred on October 17, 1814 in the parish of St. Giles, London, England. At the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, a huge vat containing over 135,000...
1815 Apr 5
to 1815 Apr 11
 Eruption of Mount Tambora
The 1815 eruption is rated 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, the only such eruption since the Lake Taupo eruption in about 180 AD. With an estimated ejecta volume of 160 cubic kilomete...
1815 Jul 31 Brunton's Mechanical Traveler Explosion
The historical record is scanty but it seems that the Steam Horse operated successfully for an unknown period. So much so, that another, larger, one seems to have been built for the Newbo...
1816 Jul 2 Méduse Disaster
In 1816, the French naval ship The Medusa set out to repossess the colony of Senegal. Commanded by an incompetent captain, she ran aground off the West African coast. While 250 passengers...
1826 Aug 28 Willey Family Catastrophe
During the fall of 1825, Samuel Willey, Jr. of Bartlett moved into a small house in the heart of Crawford Notch with his wife, five children, and two hired men. The first year, the three ...
1837 Oct 7 Loss of the SS Home
While making its third voyage from New York to Charleston, the Home struck a sandbar off the Jersey coast. Unaware of the extent of the damage, her captain proceeded on schedule to Charl...
1839 Nov 25 The Indian Cyclone of 1839
On November 25, 1839 a huge cyclone hit Coringa, India with a 40ft storm surge and killed 300,000 people. The entire city was destroyed by this wave and the city was then never rebuilt. O...
1840 May 7 Great Natchez Tornado
The Great Natchez Tornado hit Natchez, Mississippi on May 7, 1840. It is the second deadliest single tornado in United States history, killing 317 people (the only tornado in the United S...
1842 May 8 Versailles Rail Accident
The Versailles rail disaster is the first railway accident in France and one of the first in the world. The Versailles rail accident, occurred on May 8, 1842 in the trench at Meudon Belle...
1845 Aug 4 Sinking of the Cataraqui
The vessel was commanded by C. Finlay and carried a crew of 44. By early August the Cataraqui was approaching Bass Strait and on the night of the 3rd the vessel was hove to west of King I...
1847 Nov 21 Fire Aboard the Steamship Phoenix
This terrible accident occurred about four o'clock on the morning of the 21st of November, 1847, on Lake Michigan, within seventeen miles of Sheboygan. The fire was first discovered under...
1849 May 17 The St. Louis Great Fire
The St. Louis Fire of 1849 was a devastating fire that occurred on May 17, 1849 and destroyed a significant part of St. Louis, Missouri and many of the steamboats using the Mississippi Ri...
1850 Apr 16 Angers Bridge Collapse
In 1850, in the midst of a thunderstorm, part of the Batallion of the 11th light infantry regiment totalling 500 men was crossing the suspension bridge in Angers, which had been in servic...
1852 Feb 26 Wreck of HMS Birkenhead
In December of 1851, the Birkenhead sailed from Cork in Ireland, under the command of Captain Robert Salmond. She left Simon's Town on the morning of the 25th February, after loading 35...
1853 May 6 Norwalk Rail Accident
At 08:00 that morning the Boston express left New York with 200 passengers under the charge of a substitute driver for whom this was the third trip on the route. The train comprised two b...
1854 Jan 21 Sinking of the RMS Tayleur
This elegant sailing ship was the largest merchant vessel of her day but she was wrecked on her maiden voyage with the loss of 372 lives. Built at Warrington for owners Charles Moore &...
1854 Sep 27 Sinking of the SS Arctic
Sudden and heavy fog causes two ships to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland on this day in 1854. The Arctic was a luxury ship, built in 1850 to carry passengers ...
1854 Oct 6 Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead
On the morning of Friday, the 6th inst., between twelve and one o’clock, a fire broke out in the worsted manufactory of Messrs. Wilson and Sons, in Hillgate, Gateshead. After raging with ...
1854 Oct 27 Jeannette's Creek Train Wreck
"The scene presented after the collision was a horrible one. Intermixed with the fragments of the broken cars, dead bodies lay in profusion, many of them mangled in the most dreadful manne..." —Detroit Free Press, October 28, 1854
1855 Nov 1 Gasconade Bridge Train Disaster
The Gasconade Bridge Train Disaster occurred on November 1st, 1855. With more than 600 passengers aboard the Pacific Railroad excursion train celebrating the railway line's opening, outsi...