The worst disaster in history. Major disasters of the 20th century

Disasters often occur due to an absurd coincidence of events and lead to irreparable consequences. Recently, environmental disasters have occurred most often, leaving huge scars on the body of our planet. We have prepared a selection of the largest disasters that cost humanity record amounts. So, here are the 10 largest and most expensive man-made disasters, most of which occurred over the last century.

In first place is the most global man-made environmental disaster - the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This disaster cost the world $200 billion, despite the fact that the liquidation work is not even half completed. April 26, 1986 on Chernobyl nuclear power plant The worst nuclear accident in history occurred in the former USSR. More than 135,000 people living within a 30-kilometer (19-mile) radius of the destroyed reactor - and 35,000 head of livestock - were evacuated; An exclusion zone of unprecedented size was created around the station, located near the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. In this forbidden territory, nature had to cope with itself. high level radiation caused by the disaster. As a result, the exclusion zone essentially turned into a giant 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 is happening.

The Chernobyl disaster will long remain the largest and most costly environmental disaster. In second place is the explosion of the American space 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 NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle Columbia was named after the sailing ship on which Captain Robert Gray explored in May 1792 inland waters British Columbia. The space shuttle Columbia died in a disaster on February 1, 2003, upon entering the Earth's atmosphere before landing. This was Columbia's 28th space voyage. Information from hard drive Columbia was able to recover, the causes of the crash were identified, which made it possible to avoid such disasters in the future.

In third place is again an environmental disaster. November 13, 2002 oil tanker The Prestige exploded, spilling 77,000 tons of fuel into the ocean, causing the largest oil spill in European history. Losses during the work to eliminate the oil spill amounted to $12 billion.

Fourth place - the death of the Challenger shuttle. Nothing foreshadowed a tragedy during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, but 73 seconds after launch it exploded. This accident cost American taxpayers $5.5 billion.

In fifth place is the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, which 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 only oil production platform in the world that burned down. As a result of a gas leak and subsequent explosion, as well as as a result of ill-conceived and indecisive actions of personnel, 167 people out of 226 on the platform at that moment were killed, only 59 survived. Immediately after the explosion, oil and gas production on the platform was stopped, however, due to the fact that the platform’s pipelines were connected to a common network through which hydrocarbons flowed from other platforms, and on those, the production and supply of oil and gas to the pipeline for a long time They did not dare to stop (they were waiting for permission from the top management of the company), a huge amount of hydrocarbons continued to flow through the pipelines, which fueled the fire.

Ecology is again in sixth place. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989. This is the largest oil spill in human history. More than 11 million gallons of oil got into the water. $2.5 billion was spent to eliminate the consequences of this environmental disaster.

Seventh place - the explosion of the B-2 stealth bomber. The disaster occurred on February 23, 2008, and cost US taxpayers one and a half million dollars. Fortunately, no one was injured, only financial costs ensued.

Eighth place - Metrolink passenger train crash. The train collision that occurred on September 12, 2008 in California was attributed more to negligence. Two trains collide, 25 killed, MetroLink loses $500 million

In ninth place, a collision between a fuel tanker and passenger car- occurred on August 26, 2004 on the Wiehltal bridge in Germany. This disaster, which occurred on August 26, 2004, can be classified as a road accident. They happen often, but this one surpassed them all in scale. A car driving across the bridge at full speed crashed into a full fuel tanker traveling towards it, causing an explosion that practically destroyed the bridge. By the way, on restoration work the bridge cost $358 million

The sinking of the Titanic closes the top ten most expensive disasters. The tragedy occurred on April 15, 1912 and claimed 1,523 lives. The cost of building the ship amounted to $7 million (in terms of today's exchange rate - $150 million).

Disasters have been known for a long time - volcanic eruptions, powerful earthquakes, and tornadoes. In the last century there have been many water disasters and terrible nuclear disasters.

The worst disasters on the water

Man has been sailing on sailboats, boats, and ships across the vast oceans and seas for hundreds of years. During this time, a huge number of disasters, shipwrecks and accidents occurred.

In 1915, a British passenger liner was torpedoed by a German submarine. The ship sank in eighteen minutes, being thirteen kilometers from the coast of Ireland. One thousand one hundred and ninety-eight people died.

In April 1944, a terrible disaster occurred in the port of Bombay. It all started with the fact that during the unloading of a single-screw steamer, which was loaded with gross violations of safety regulations, a violent explosion occurred. It is known that the ship carried one and a half tons of explosives, several tons of cotton, sulfur, wood, and gold bars. After the first explosion, a second one sounded. The burning cotton scattered over a radius of almost a kilometer. Almost all the ships and warehouses burned, and fires started in the city. They were extinguished only after two weeks. As a result, about two and a half thousand people were hospitalized, one thousand three hundred and seventy-six people died. The port was restored only after seven months.

The most famous water disaster is the sinking of the Titanic. Colliding with an iceberg during its 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. A powerful explosion occurred, leading to the destruction of not only the port, but also part of the city. The fact is that 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 the French cruiser after a torpedo attack by a German submarine in 1916. As a result of the torpedoing of the German floating hospital "General Steuben", about three thousand six hundred and eight people died.

In December 1987, the Philippine passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with the tanker Vector. Four thousand three hundred and seventy-five people died.

In May 1945, a tragedy occurred in the Baltic Sea, which claimed the lives of about eight thousand people. The cargo ship Tilbeck and the liner Cap Arcona came under fire from British aircraft. As a result of the torpedoing of the Goya by a Soviet submarine in the spring of 1945, six thousand nine hundred people died.

“Wilhelm Gustlow” was the name of the German passenger liner sunk by a submarine under the command of Marinesko in January 1945. The exact number of victims is unknown, approximately nine thousand people.

The worst disasters in Russia

We can name several terrible disasters that occurred on Russian territory. Thus, in June 1989, one of the largest train accidents in Russia occurred near Ufa. A huge explosion occurred while two passenger trains. 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 and seventy-five people died, according to others, six hundred and forty-five. Another six hundred people were wounded.

The worst environmental disaster in the territory former USSR considered death 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 were used for irrigation and some other agricultural purposes in the sixties. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. Since the influx of fresh water was significantly reduced, the lake gradually died.

In the summer of 2012 in Krasnodar region There was a massive flood. It is considered the largest disaster on Russian territory. In two July days, five months' worth of precipitation fell. The city of Krymsk was almost completely washed away by water. Officially, 179 people were declared dead, of which 159 were residents of Krymsk. More than 34 thousand local residents were affected.

The worst nuclear disasters

Huge numbers of people are exposed to nuclear disasters. So in April 1986, one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive substances released into the atmosphere settled on nearby villages and towns. This accident is one of the most destructive 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. The scale of the disaster is still unclear.

In Japan in March 2011 nuclear power plant Fukushima 1 exploded during the earthquake. Because of this a large number of radioactive substances entered the atmosphere. At first, officials hushed up the scale of the disaster.

After 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 were exposed to radiation, four people died.

The worst disaster in human history

The explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is considered the most disastrous disaster for the biosphere in the entire existence of mankind. The platform itself went under water after the explosion. As a result, a huge volume of petroleum products ended up in the world's oceans. The spill lasted one hundred and fifty-two days. The oil film covered an area equal to seventy-five thousand square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico.

In terms of the number of victims, the disaster that occurred in India in the city of Bhapole in December 1984 is considered the largest. There was a chemical leak at one of the factories. Eighteen thousand people died. Until now, the causes of this disaster have not been fully elucidated.

It is impossible not to mention the worst fire that occurred in London in 1666. The fire spread across the city with lightning speed, destroying about seventy thousand houses and killing about eighty thousand people. The fire lasted for four days.

Not only disasters are terrible, but also entertainment. The website has a rating of the scariest attractions in the world.
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Unfortunately, these things happen. No, probably the right words to describe them, and God forbid you end up in similar situations.

We present to your attention the most terrible disasters in the world.

The worst plane crash

The rating of “The worst plane crashes” is headed by Tenerife. Fatal collision of 2 Boeing 747 aircraft belonging to different companies(Boeing-747-206B - the brainchild of KLM airline, operated the next flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - the property of Pan American, operated flight 1736), happened on March 27, 1977 on the island of the Canary group, Tenerife, at the takeoff runway Los Rodeo Airport. Many people died - 583 people on these two planes. What exactly caused such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the superposition of unfavorable circumstances on top of each other played a cruel joke.

On that ill-fated Sunday spring day, Los Rodeos airport was very congested. Both aircraft performed maneuvers on the narrow runway, including complex 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 thick Spanish accent of the controller - all this inevitably led to disaster. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the dispatcher's command to abort the takeoff, while the commander of the second Boeing reported that their huge plane was still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, the inevitable collision occurred, the fuselage of the Pan American Boeing was very damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. A Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell onto the runway 150 meters from the point of collision and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft burst into flames.

All 248 people on the Boeing KLM plane were killed. The second plane killed 326 passengers and nine crew members. The American star of Playboy magazine, actress and model Eve Meyer, also died in this worst plane crash.

The worst man-made disaster

The worst disaster in the history of oil production was the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, built in 1976. This happened on 07/06/1988. According to experts, this terrible accident cost 3.4 billion US dollars and claimed the lives of 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burned-out oil production platform on Earth that belonged to 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 petroleum products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, awaiting the command of higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes; the fire even engulfed residential complexes. And those who were able to survive the first explosion found themselves surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water were saved.

The worst disaster on the water

If you remember the biggest disasters on the water, you immediately remember the pictures from the film “Titanic”, which is based on real events 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the biggest disaster. The greatest maritime disaster was the sinking of the German motor ship Wilhelm Gustlow by a Soviet military submarine on January 30, 1945. There were almost 9 thousand people on board the ship: 3,700 of them were people who had completed 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 using the latest technologies of that time.

Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, church, Gym, restaurants, cafes with winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. 208 meters long, it could travel halfway around the world without refueling. It couldn't sink a priori. But fate decreed otherwise. Under the command of A.I. Marinesko, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 conducted military operation to destroy an enemy ship. Three fired torpedoes penetrated the Wilhelm Gustlow. It immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one, the whole world, can forget the most terrible disaster.

The biggest environmental disaster

Most terrible disaster From an ecological point of view, ecologists consider the death of the Aral Sea, which, before the drying out, scientists called the fourth lake by world standards. 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 quantities to water fields and gardens to ensure the fulfillment of the political ambitions and unreasonable plans of Soviet leaders.
With time 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.

The worst nuclear disaster

Huge numbers of people are exposed to nuclear disasters. So in April 1986, one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive substances released into the atmosphere settled on nearby villages and towns. This accident is one of the most destructive 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. The scale of the disaster is still unclear.

Sources:

From television screens, from radios, from newspapers, from endless news broadcasts, we learn about tragedies, accidents and various kinds. Let's look at the worst disasters in the world.

The worst plane crash

The rating of “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, operated the next 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 on these two planes. What exactly caused such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the superposition of unfavorable circumstances on top of each other played a cruel joke.

On that ill-fated Sunday spring day, Los Rodeos airport was very congested. Both aircraft performed maneuvers on the narrow runway, including complex turns of 135-180 degrees. Interference in radio communications with the controller and between the pilots, poor weather conditions and visibility, misinterpretation of commands by the air traffic controller, the strong Spanish accent of the controller - all this inevitably led to trouble. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the dispatcher's command to abort the takeoff, while the commander of the second Boeing reported that their huge plane was still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, the inevitable collision occurred, the fuselage of the Pan American Boeing was very damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. A Boeing KLM without a tail and with damaged wings fell onto the runway 150 meters from the point of collision and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft burst into flames.

All 248 people on the Boeing KLM plane were killed. The second plane killed 326 passengers and nine crew members. The American star of Playboy magazine, actress and model Eve Meyer, also died in this worst plane crash.

The worst man-made disaster

The worst disaster in the history of oil production was the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, built in 1976. This happened on 07/06/1988. According to experts, this terrible accident cost 3.4 billion US dollars and claimed the lives of 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burned-out oil production 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 petroleum products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, awaiting the command of higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes; the fire even engulfed residential complexes. And those who were able to survive the first explosion found themselves surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water were saved.

The worst disaster on the water

If you remember the biggest disasters on the water, you immediately remember the pictures from the film “Titanic”, which is based on real events of 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the biggest disaster. The greatest maritime disaster was the sinking of the German motor ship Wilhelm Gustlow by a Soviet military submarine on January 30, 1945. There were almost 9 thousand people on board the ship: 3,700 of them were people who had completed 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 using the latest technologies of that time.

Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, a church, a gym, restaurants, a cafe with a winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. 208 meters long, it could travel halfway around the world without refueling. It couldn't sink a priori. But fate decreed otherwise. Under the command of A.I. Marinesko, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 conducted a military operation to destroy the enemy ship. Three fired torpedoes penetrated the Wilhelm Gustlow. It immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one, the whole world, can forget the most terrible disaster.

The biggest environmental disaster

The death of the Aral Sea, which before the drying out began, scientists called the fourth lake by world standards, is considered the most terrible disaster from an environmental point of view. 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 quantities to water fields and gardens to ensure the fulfillment of the political ambitions and unreasonable plans of Soviet leaders.

Over time, the shoreline 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 and droughts became more frequent.

There have always been disasters: environmental, man-made. A lot of them have happened over the past hundred years.

Major water disasters

People have been crossing seas and oceans for hundreds of years. During this time, many shipwrecks occurred.

For example, in 1915, a German submarine fired a torpedo and blew up a British passenger liner. This happened not far from the Irish coast. The ship sank to the bottom in a matter of minutes. About 1,200 people died.

In 1944, a disaster occurred right in the port of Bombay. While unloading the ship, a powerful explosion occurred. On cargo ship there were explosives, gold bars, sulfur, wood and cotton. It was the burning cotton, scattered within a radius of one kilometer, that caused the fire of all the ships in the port, warehouses and even many city facilities. The city burned for two weeks. 1,300 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. The port returned to its operating mode only 7 months after the disaster.

The most famous and large-scale disaster on the water is the sinking of the famous Titanic. He went under water during his first voyage. The giant was unable to change course when an iceberg appeared right in front of him. The liner sank, and with it one and a half thousand people.

At the end of 1917, a collision occurred between the French and Norwegian ships - Mont Blanc and Imo. The French ship was fully loaded with explosives. The powerful explosion, along with the port, destroyed part of the city of Halifax. The consequences of this explosion in human lives: 2,000 dead and 9,000 injured. This explosion is considered the most powerful until the advent of nuclear weapons.

In 1916, the Germans torpedoed a French ship. 3,130 people died. After the attack on the German hospital afloat General Steuben, 3,600 people lost their lives.

At the beginning of 1945, a submarine under the command of Marinesko fired a torpedo at the German liner Wilhelm Gustlow, which was carrying passengers. At least 9,000 people died.

The largest disasters in Russia

Several disasters occurred on the territory of our country, which in terms of their scale are considered the largest in the history of the state. These include accidents railway near Ufa. An accident occurred on the pipeline, which was located next to the railway track. As a result of the accumulated air fuel mixture at the moment when the passenger trains met, an explosion occurred. 654 people were killed and about 1,000 were injured.

The largest environmental disaster not only in the country, but throughout the world also occurred on Russian territory. It's about about the Aral Sea, which has almost dried up. This was facilitated by many factors, including social and soil ones. The Aral Sea disappeared in just half a century. In the 60s of the last century fresh waters tributaries of the Aral Sea were used in many areas in agriculture. By the way, the Aral Sea was considered one of the largest lakes in the world. Now its place is taken by land.

Another indelible mark on the history of the fatherland was left by the flood in 2012 in the city of Krymsk Krasnodar region. Then, in two days, as much precipitation fell as falls in 5 months. Due to the natural disaster, 179 people died and 34 thousand local residents were injured.

Major nuclear disaster

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 went down in history not only Soviet Union, but also the whole world. Exploded energy block stations. As a result, there was a powerful release of radiation into the atmosphere. To this day, a radius of 30 km from the epicenter of the explosion is considered an exclusion zone. There is still no accurate data on the consequences of this terrible disaster.

Also nuclear explosion occurred in 2011, when the nuclear reactor at Fukushima-1 failed. This happened due to a strong earthquake in Japan. A huge amount of radiation entered the atmosphere.

The largest disasters in the history of mankind

In 2010, an oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. After the stunning fire, the platform quickly sank, but oil spilled into the ocean for another 152 days. According to scientists, the area covered with an oil film amounted to 75 thousand square kilometers.

The worst global disaster in terms of death toll was the explosion of a chemical plant. This happened in the Indian city of Bhapola in 1984. 18 thousand people died, a large number of people were exposed to radiation.

In 1666, a fire occurred in London, which is still considered the most powerful fire in history. The fire destroyed 70 thousand houses and claimed the lives of 80 thousand city residents. It took 4 days to put out the fire.