Natural+disasters

 Encyclopædia Britannica ||
 * =Disasters =


//Early January,// Bangladesh. A brutal one-week cold wave claimed the lives of at least 34 persons, many of them destitute children and the elderly. //January 2-3,// Fiji. Deadly Cyclone Kina ripped across the islands and caused widespread damage with winds swirling to 185 km/h (115 mph); at least 12 persons were known dead, hundreds of homes were destroyed, and three major bridges were washed away. //January 7-20,// Southern California and Tijuana, Mexico. Two weeks of relentless pounding rain caused massive mud slides and severe flooding, which led to the deaths of at least 30 persons and left more than 1,000 homeless. //January 8,// Northeastern Bangladesh. A five-minute tornado ravaged villages in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, killed 32 persons, and left more than 1,000 injured. //January 14,// Near Pasto, Colombia. The Galeras volcano erupted and trapped a team of scientists who were inside the crater collecting gas samples; of the some 70 persons believed to have been on the volcano when it erupted, at least 9, including 6 volcanologists, were killed and 7 were injured. //January 18,// Ozengeli, Turkey. A thundering avalanche entombed half of the village; at least 18 persons were killed, and some 50 were buried under the snow. //Late January,// Between Russia and Georgia. An avalanche in the Caucasus Mountains blocked the only pass linking the two countries; 18 persons were feared dead. //Early February,// Java, Indon. Heavy rains precipitated severe flooding, which claimed the lives of at least 60 persons, destroyed thousands of homes, and forced some 250,000 persons to be evacuated. //February 2,// Near Legaspi, Phil. Mayon Volcano unexpectedly spewed a gigantic plume of ash and sent tons of superheated debris tumbling down its slopes and onto farmers' fields; the minor explosion claimed the lives of 68 persons. //Mid-February,// Ecuador. A week of relentless rains precipitated severe flooding in the coastal provinces, where dozens of persons were killed, thousands of hectares of banana, soya, and rice crops were destroyed, and landslides made roads impassable. //Late February,// Iran. Large-scale flooding killed some 500 persons and caused some $1 billion in damages in one of the country's worst natural disasters to date. //March 12-15,// Eastern U.S. A ferocious storm billed as the Blizzard of '93 produced record-breaking bitter-cold temperatures while dumping tons of snow from Alabama to Maine; spawned tornadoes in Florida, where residents were still recovering from the 1992 destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew; and generated hurricane-force winds that made projectiles of unsecured objects and whipped up tides along coastal areas, causing severe flooding. The violent "nor'easter," a low-pressure system that gained its force when arctic air collided with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the lives of at least 238 persons, including 50 in Pennsylvania and 44 in Florida; trapped some 100 hikers and several campers in North Carolina and Tennessee; and spread destruction as far north as Canada (4 deaths) and as far south as Cuba (3 deaths). Damage estimates reached $1 billion. //March 15,// Northern Pakistan. Avalanches in a remote region of the country buried at least 36 persons, injured 16, crushed adobe homes in two villages, and destroyed cattle herds. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late March,// Afghanistan. A thundering avalanche of snow and ice blocked the northern end of the Salang tunnel on the main highway linking Kabul with the northern part of the country; at least 100 persons were reported to have died of exposure, and thousands were trapped on the highway without proper clothing or sufficient food. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//March 29,// Near Cuenca, Ecuador. Rains in a mining region caused a landslide that entombed a small community in the southern part of the country; several hundred persons were killed. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//April 9,// West Bengal, India. A killer tornado leveled five villages in the Murshidabad district and claimed the lives of at least 100 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//April 26,// Northwestern Colombia. Heavy rains caused massive flooding and landslides, which blocked 24 main roads and claimed the lives of as many as 100 persons; the Tapartó River burst its banks, inundated five nearby hamlets, destroyed some 50 houses, and ravaged coffee, banana, and cane crops. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early May,// Gansu (Kansu) province, China. A menacing sandstorm that locals dubbed "the black wind" because it ominously darkened the midday skies whipped up sand and dirt and blew residents, most of them children, into water channels and pools; at least 43 fatalities were attributed to the storm. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//May 3,// Santiago, Chile. Heavy rain was blamed for swelling rivers that burst canal banks, unleashing a mass of water and mud that buried poorer neighbourhoods in the capital; at least 11 persons lost their lives. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//May 9,// Ecuador. A landslide roared down a steep slope denuded of trees, pouring thousands of tons of mud and rock on a gold-mining settlement; as many as 200 persons were feared dead. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Mid-June-August//, U.S. Midwest. A stormy weather front that stagnated over the Midwest for weeks caused some of the worst flooding in U.S. history in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin when the Missouri and Mississippi rivers overflowed after reaching record crests even though volunteers tried to shore up the banks with some 75 million sandbags. "The Great Flood of '93" claimed the lives of 50 persons; caused an estimated $12 billion in damages, including $200 million to rail lines and bridges and $8 billion in crop damages; and affected additional areas in the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee before subsiding in August. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Mid-June,// Bangladesh. Fierce storms inundated the capital city of Dhaka, causing rivers to overflow their banks and claiming the lives of nearly 200 persons, who died in the massive flooding. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Mid-June,// Western El Salvador. Heavy rains precipitated a mud slide at a garbage dump; more than 20 persons were feared dead. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early July,// Himachal Pradesh state, India. Four days of relentless monsoon rains caused massive flooding, which led to the deaths of at least 175 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early July,// Northeastern U.S. A searing weeklong heat wave with punishing temperatures over 38° C (100°F) claimed dozens of lives--many were elderly persons whose homes had no air-conditioning--including at least 41 in Philadelphia. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//July 6-7,// Mexico. Hurricane Calvin whipped up dangerous winds and seas, pounded seaports and airports in Acapulco, and forced thousands from their homes; at least 28 deaths were attributed to the storm, which pummeled the country's Pacific coast. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//July 12,// Northern Japan. A major earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, and its subsequent deadly tsunamis (seismic sea waves) claimed the lives of at least 185 persons, some of whom either succumbed inside collapsed or burning buildings, were swept away and drowned, or were buried in landslides. The island of Okushiri, which was hit the hardest, was virtually destroyed. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late July-Early August,// Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. The worst monsoon rains in 40 years caused water from the Himalayan mountain ranges to burst the banks of rivers draining into low-lying plains and inundate bordering villages; thousands were killed, crops were washed away, and millions of people were affected--many of them marooned--by the massive flooding. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late July,// Hunan (Hu-nan) and Sichuan (Szechwan) provinces, China. Torrential rains unleashed massive flooding and landslides that claimed the lives of about 120 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late July-Early August,// Southern Japan. Torrential downpours caused flooding and mud slides, which killed at least 40 persons and left an estimated 22 missing. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//August 8,// Venezuela. Tropical Storm Bret, packing ferocious winds and driving rain, caused intense flooding and mud slides, which left thousands homeless and claimed the lives of at least 100 persons, many of them buried in their hillside shanties; the capital city of Caracas was hardest hit, with many streets in slum areas resembling rivers. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early September,// Kyushu, Japan. Typhoon Yancy, the worst storm of its type in 30 years, blasted the island with winds in excess of 209 km/h (130 mph) and claimed the lives of at least 41 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early September,// T'boli, Phil. A landslide buried 21 miners in their bunkhouses during a storm. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Mid-September,// Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico. Tropical Storm Gert lashed the countries with heavy rains that caused flooding, numerous mud slides, and massive destruction of roads and highways; at least 28 persons were killed in Nicaragua and Honduras, and about 14 lost their lives when the storm ravaged Mexico. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//September 30,// Maharashtra state, India. An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, the worst in India in over 50 years, rocked the region, flattening a dozen villages and killing more than 9,700 persons who were buried when their mud-and-mortar homes entombed them as they slept; the devastation wreaked by the powerful temblor was massive, and only those who had stayed outside to celebrate the Hindu festival honouring Ganesa, the elephant-headed god, were spared. Hardest hit were the towns of Umarga, Latur, and Killari; the tragedy prompted India, for the first time in its independent history, to accept international aid. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early October,// China. The waters of the Qiantang (Ch'ien-t'ang) River swept away dozens of persons from a jetty where they had gathered to witness the cresting waves of the river's autumn peak; 19 persons were known dead, and 40 were missing. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early October,// Luzon, Phil. Tropical Storm Flo ravaged the country, burying 200 homes under mud flows, destroying over $10 million of crops and property, and killing at least 41 persons; more than 30 were missing and presumed dead. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//October 8,// Kodigama, Sri Lanka. Heavy rains precipitated a landslide, which thundered down a hillside and buried at least eight homes in mud; about 50 persons were feared dead. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Mid-Late October,// Northern Papua New Guinea. A series of earthquakes during a 12-day period killed at least 65 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//October 31-November 2,// Northern Honduras. Torrential rains inundated the provinces of Yoro and Colón and precipitated massive mud slides, which buried more than 1,000 homes; an estimated 400 persons lost their lives. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late October-Early November,// Southern California. A series of wildfires driven by the Santa Ana winds scorched at least 61,500 ha (152,000 ac) and claimed the lives of three persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//November 23,// South-central Vietnam. Ferocious Typhoon Kyle battered four provinces, claimed the lives of at least 45 persons, and injured at least 244; hardest hit was the province of Khanh Hoa, where 30 persons were killed, 67 were missing, and more than 1,000 homes were destroyed. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late November-Early December,// Moscow. A deep freeze that lasted longer than two weeks claimed the lives of at least 41 persons, caused more than 200 to require treatment for frostbite and exposure, and resulted in limb amputations in more than 60 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early December,// Southern India. A cyclone pummeled the country's southern coastal districts and claimed the lives of at least 47 persons. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Early December,// Great Britain. Hurricane-force winds, among the strongest ever recorded during December, claimed the lives of at least 12 persons, disrupted road and rail travel, and toppled trees and power lines. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 11,// Near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A 12-story luxury apartment building collapsed after a landslide hit the structure; at least 56 persons were killed. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 14,// Cairo. A monumental rock broke free from a cliff, thundered down a mountain, and shattered into large boulders as it demolished several buildings; at least 25 persons were killed in the landslide. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 16,// Pakistan. An avalanche triggered by a blizzard buried 10 Pakistani soldiers on the Siachen glacier. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 17,// Dabeiba, Colombia. Severe rains sent a torrent of water through the town and unleashed a mud slide, which demolished some 25 homes; at least 22 persons were killed, about 35 were injured, and several were missing. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 25,// Oran, Alg. Heavy rains triggered mud slides that demolished the shanties of some 130 families; at least 12 persons were known dead, and 46 were injured. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//December 25-26,// Philippines. Typhoon Nell pummeled the islands and claimed the lives of at least 47 persons; the late-season storm was one in a series that killed more than 300 persons during the month. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late December,// Northeastern Malaysia. Weeklong rains caused the worst flooding in 13 years as swollen rivers broke their banks; at least 14 deaths were attributed to the flooding, which also damaged homes and crops. <span class="artcopy" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">//Late December,// Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, and The Netherlands. The worst flooding in decades inundated parts of Europe after brutal storms lashed the areas with relentless rains, causing rivers, especially the Rhine, to overflow their banks; at least seven persons were known dead, and property damage was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. > Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 12 Sept. 2011. > <<span style="color: #336699; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] >.
 * " **Disasters .**" //Encyclopædia Britannica//. //Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition//.