http://www.epicdisasters.com/ Epic Disasters: The World's Worst Disasters en editor@bogeymedia.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-01T22:29:01-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/read_about_the_worlds_worst_disasters/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/read_about_the_worlds_worst_disasters/#When:03:49:00Z The Worst Hurricanes Top Ten Deadliest Hurricanes In US History Top Ten Most Costly Hurricanes In US History Top Ten Strongest Hurricanes In US History Top Ten Deadliest Hurricanes Worldwide Random Hurricane Facts The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale The Worst Earthquakes In History The World’s Deadliest Earthquakes The Worst US Earthquakes The World’s Strongest Earthquakes By Magnitude Earthquake Facts The Richter Earthquake Scale The Worst Floods The World’s Deadliest Floods The Deadliest US Floods The Worst Volcanic Eruptions The World’s Deadliest Volcanic Eruptions The Worst US Volcanic Eruptions The Worst Tornadoes The Top Ten Deadliest US Tornadoes The Worst Outbreaks of Epidemic Disease The Top Ten Outbreaks, Epidemic and Pandemic Diseases The Worst Mining Disasters The Top Ten Worldwide Mining Disasters The Top Ten US Mining Disasters The Worst Wildfires The Top Ten US Wildfires By Acreage The Top Ten Deadliest US Wildfires The Worst US Winter Storms and Blizzards The Top 10 US Winter Storms and Blizzards Man Made Disasters The Worst Soccer / Football Disasters The World’s Worst Oil Spills The World’s Worst Airline Disasters The Worst Bus Disasters The Worst Train Disasters The Worst Maritime (Ship) Disasters - Civilian The Worst School Massacres, Shootings and Killings The Worst Spree Killers In Modern World History The Worst Spree Killers In Modern US History Extreme Weather Coldest and Warmest Days In the United States Has There Been An Increase In The Number of Disasters? 2008-01-10T03:49:00-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_football_soccer_disasters/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_football_soccer_disasters/#When:22:29:01Z Here’s the list of the worst football / soccer disasters. Man Made Disasters 2012-02-01T22:29:01-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_maritime_disasters_civilian/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_maritime_disasters_civilian/#When:12:45:00Z The Worst Maritime (Naval, Ship) Disasters This list contains only disasters involving civilian ships in peacetime. Military vessels and munitions ships are a separate issue. Man Made Disasters 2012-01-19T12:45:00-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_deadliest_us_tornadoes/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_deadliest_us_tornadoes/#When:23:17:00Z The Deadliest US Tornado Outbreaks The Top Ten Most Deadly Tornadoes In US History Update: The 2011 Joplin Missouri Tornado is confirmed at this writing to have killed 122 people, making it the eighth worse in US History. Update: The 2011 Tornado Outbreak has been confirmed as of this writing (4/29/2011) to have killed 319, making it the highest death toll since 1932, when 322 were killed in Alabama. An April 1974 outbreak killed 325 people in 11 states. These however, are from multiple storms.The deadliest tornado remains the March 18, 1925 twister which killed 695 people on its 219 mile path of destruction. A total of 747 people were killed in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana when all tornadoes in that storm are accounted for. Tornadoes 2011-05-24T23:17:00-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_nuclear_disasters_civilian/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/worst_nuclear_disasters_civilian/#When:14:57:01Z The top civilian nuclear disasters, ranked by International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Man Made Disasters 2011-04-15T14:57:01-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/largest_earthquakes_since_1900_by_magnitude/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/largest_earthquakes_since_1900_by_magnitude/#When:16:53:01Z The 15 Largest Quakes Since 1900 By Magnitude 1. Chile 1960 9.5 2. Prince William Sound, Alaska 1964 9.2 3. Coast of Sumatra 2004 9.1 4. Kamchatka, Russia 1952 9.0 5. Coastal Honshu, Japan 2011 8.9 6. Coastal Ecuador 1906 8.8 7. Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 8.7 8. Sumatra 2005 8.6 9. Assam, Tibet 1950 8.6 10. Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 8.6 11. Sumatra 2007 8.5 12. Banda Sea, Indonesia 2007 8.5 13 Kamchatka, Russia 1923 8.5 14 Chile, Argentina 1922 8.5 15 Kuril Islands, Russia 1963 8.5 Earthquakes 2011-03-12T16:53:01-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/garmin_nuvi_gps_systems/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/garmin_nuvi_gps_systems/#When:16:54:01Z Emergency Supplies 2011-02-27T16:54:01-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_worlds_worst_railroad_disasters/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_worlds_worst_railroad_disasters/#When:13:17:00Z The earliest recorded rail deaths may have occurred in 1650 in Whickham, England, when two boys were killed by a wagon on a wood coal tramway.  In 1815, also in England, 13 - 16 people were killed by a boiler explosion of the experimental locomotive “Brunton’s Mechanical Traveller”. Since then, things have gotten worse. Here are the worst rail disasters of all time, listed by number of deaths. Note that a great many of these occurred in times of war, when large numbers of people were being transported by rail. 1) Queen of the Sea Rail Disaster Sri Lanka, 24 December 2004 1,700 deaths Stuck by a tsunami wave created by the Indian Ocean earthquake, the Queen of the Sea was caught in the rising waters. Believing that it would be safe from the wave, hundreds of locals climbed aboard. Unfortunately, it was swept away, and 1,700 were killed. The victims primarily were in the eight cars, where they were unable to open the doors and drowned. 2) Bihar Rail Disaster India, 6 June 1981 800 - 1,000+ Deaths A passenger train carrying at least 800 derailed on a bridge and plunged into the Bagmati River. Only 200 bodies were recovered. 3) Frejus Railway Disasters aka Modane Train Disaster Near Modane, France, 12 December 1917 600 - 1,000 deaths An overloaded train carrying 800 - 1000 French soldiers returning home from North East Italy during World War I suffered brake failure and crashed while descending into a valley. As a result of the fire and wreckage, only 425 of the bodies could be identified. 4) Ciurea Rail Disaster Ciurea Station, Romania 13 January 1817 600 - 1,000 During the First World War, a train carrying as many as 1,000 passengers—mostly soldiers and civilians fleeing a German advance—suffered brake failure on a 6.7% grade. To avoid collision with a second train at the bottom, the runaway was switched onto a loop. The runaway train derailed and caught fire. 5) Guadalajara Train Disaster Guadalajara, Mexico, 22 January 1915 600+ Deaths In the midst of the Mexican Revolution, a train carrying the families of the troops of Venustiano Carranza left Colima for Guadalajara. The train lost its brakes on a steep descent, jumped the tracks and plunged into a canyon.  Some 300 survived. 6) Ufa Train Diaster Near Asha, in the Soviet Union 4 June 1989 575 - 645 killed Two passing trains carrying children on holiday to the Black Sea threw sparks near a leaky liquid petroleum gas pipeline. The resulting explosion—the equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb—killed at least 575 and wounded 700 others. 7) Balvano Train Disaster near Balvano, Italy 2/3 March 1944 426 Deaths After a train stalled on a steep gradient in the Armi tunnel, carbon monoxide fumes from its engines killed 426, many riding the train illegally. The carbon monoxide was exacerbated by the poor grade coal used as a result of war shortages. 8) Torre del Bierzo Rail Disaster near Torro del Bierzo, Spein 3 January 1944 500 deaths The collision of three trains in a tunnel left more than 500 dead. Official counts at the time were much lower for political reasons 9) Awash Rail Disaster between Arba and Khora, Ethiopia 14 January 1985 428 deaths High speed led to a derailment of four of the trains’s five cars as it rounded a curve on a bridge across a ravine. Of the 1,000 on board, 428 were killed and 500 injured. 10) Al Ayyat Train Disaster Between Cairo and Luxor, Egypt 20 February 2002 at least 383 deaths A cooking gas cylinder explosion set the train on fire, burning seven third class carriages to cinders. There was no passenger list, so estimates run to as high as 1,000 deaths on the grossly overcrowded train. Man Made Disasters 2010-10-02T13:17:00-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/tornado_destruction_caught_on_video/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/tornado_destruction_caught_on_video/#When:21:48:00Z Tornadoes 2010-08-08T21:48:00-05:00 http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_worlds_worst_oil_spills/ http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/the_worlds_worst_oil_spills/#When:15:21:01Z The Ten Worst Oil Spills In History. Update: New estimates place the Deepwater Horizon spill at 84 million gallons—enough to catapult it into 2nd place overall. Man Made Disasters 2010-06-12T15:21:01-05:00