Hurricanes Earthquakes and Megafloods The Scariest Natural Disasters In Human History

when disaster happens it becomes news around the globe whether it's the scale or the spectacle look at the debris look at all the debris look at all the debris in the air the financial cost or the lives lost these massive events fill mankind with Fascination and fear in this series we're looking at some of the biggest disasters to ever strike the planet before the levy broke this morning this whole area was already flooded it's about six block for the next hour we'll see what happens when the lifeblood of the planet is Unleashed water it covers 2/3 of the planet and makes up 60% of the human body but when it's uncontained it's absolutely devastating flowing faster than you can run hitting with the power of train and inundating everything that isn't airtight head for Higher Ground because today we're looking at the top 10 floods of all time the Blue Planet even though we call our planet Earth it's really mostly water the blue planet's peaceful sounding nickname comes from its most essential resource it covers 71% of it in liquid form it fills oceans and lakes and flows through rivers and streams much of it exists as ice and as vapor in the atmosphere and it never stops moving its endless cycle of evaporation to water vapor to cloud formation to rain keeps everything on the planet alive but Water by its force and its speed can be transformed in certain circumstances into real terror torrential rains or river breaching its banks can turn this essential resource into deadly and destructive trap to classify the 10 worst floods that marked the planet we studi the human environmental and financial toll of these disasters that have occurred throughout history and around the world let's start right away with the one that holds the 10th place in our ranking we head to Brazil and more precisely the region of Minas jise in the southeast of the country it was here in the city of Mariana that terrible disaster took place in 2015 Mariana is town of just over 50,000 inhabitants since the 17th century it's been known for its precious stone deposits and has become the El Dorado of the mining industry among the players is the company samarco owned by the Brazilian giant Veil and the Anglo Australian BHP the company built the fundo dam outside the city which began operation in 2008 its function to store the millions of cubic meters of toxic castings generated by the operation of nearby iron mine but on November 5th 2015 the dam collapsed more than 40 million tons of toxic mud pour over the region houses cattle Farms the torrent of sludge carries away everything in its path the little village of Bento Rodriguez is wiped off the map in just few hours the wake of the tragedy leaves 19 dead including several children the toxic torrent pours into the water of the do river killing millions of fish and destroying hundreds of hectares of forest as it spreads the poisonous wave of waste sweeps nearly 650 km through two Brazilian States polluting everything along its Unstoppable course experts estimate that it will take more than 20 years to clean up such an ecological disaster the investigation reveals that an internal report had sounded the alarm few years earlier on the risk of the dam collapsing but at the time the company management chose not to act the mining Giants Veil and BHP owners of the samarco company responsible for the disaster were ordered to pay several billion dollars to clean up the region and compensate the victims but the impact of this toxic flood still seems almost irreversible today unfortunately this horrific event did not even serve as lesson just four years later on January 25th 2019 the brumadinho Dam located in the same state and belonging to the Brazilian giant Veil still involved in the Mariana disaster also collapsed leaving 270 dead and new ecological disaster these two tragedies could undoubtedly have been avoided had the mining companies not been so negligent since then an International investigation has listed five other mining dams in danger of collapsing the future of the region depends on the maintenance work of these potential time bombs to investigate the flood that takes Ninth Place in our ranking we are heading to the United States where in 1927 the Mississippi River was the source of one of the most dramatic floods in history the Mississippi is the second longest river in all of North America it flows from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico over more than 3,700 km and in some places it exceeds 18 kilm wide its course is lined with many flood Plaines which are flat areas lying close to the banks of the river that naturally flood when the water level rises that's not bad thing the frequent phenomenon provides beneficial consequences in these places the soil is regularly enriched with minerals deposited when the flood waters recede flood Plaines are places often very rich in biodiversity and where people come to settle to take advantage of this abundance of resources but during the winter of 1926 to 1927 The Plains of the Mississippi were inundated with rain for several months the rain continued to fall incessantly the Relentless influx of water overwhelmed the dkes built along the river to protect the surrounding communities on April 15th 1927 torrential rains filled the bloated Mississippi Beyond its maximum capacity they triggered tried one of the 20th Century's most tragic floods at the time more than 1 million people lived in the flood Plains of the Mississippi within just few hours they would be flooded out in some areas the water level reaches up to 10 high as tall as three-story house the total flooded area is gigantic more than 70,000 square km of land equal to the entire surface of Ireland in some places the width of the river expands to more than 130 km from Illinois in the north to Louisiana in the South all the PLS of the Mississippi are underwater the impact of this record flood will last for 2 years it is estimated that in today's figures it caused several tens of billions of dollars in damage it's figure that would have washed most countries into bankruptcy then with appalling suddenness came the beginning of the greatest depression of all time in the United States its impact on agriculture and the economy is so severe that some experts say it was one of the triggering factors of the Great Depression that brought America to its knees between 1929 and 1933 already unemployed into the tragedy also had far-reaching social and cultural consequences the refugees had to be housed for months in emergency camps at the time segregation was the rule in the country and inside the camps while the whites have the right to come and go the African-Americans find themselves separated and treated like prisoners the situation will push many African-Americans into exile to the north profoundly changing American society in the 20th century and beyond the reported death toll of this terrible flood was 500 lives while the figure seems mercifully low the gigantic economic and social impact of the great Mississippi flood makes it one of the most significant natural disasters in history before the leby broke this morning this whole area was already flooded it's about six block area in Harden that means about 170 families have had to be evacuated more than 65 years later in 1993 another dramatic flood hit the region following torrential rains this time in Autumn the entire Basin of the Mississippi River and its tributaries including the Missouri River will again be underwater up and down the length of Missouri there are more than 120 levies protecting towns homes and farmland from the swollen Mississippi River this time 50 people are reported dead and and the damage is estimated at more than $15 billion proof once again that nothing can stand in the way of the flooding of river such as the great Mississippi after the United States we head to Asia to relive the disaster that takes eighth place in our ranking in 2013 tragedy struck the Indian state of utarak located in the north of the country and crossed by the Himalayan range torrential rains aren't unusual here they're triggered by climatic phenomenon that affects the country every year between June and September known as monsoon season it's also the season when pilgrims of various religions travel to the state of utarak the source of the Sacred rivers of the Ganges and the yamuna at this time of year the population swells by 300,000 people increasing the magnitude of the cataclysm that struck utarak cond in June 2013 between June 15th and 16th precipitation reaches 10 cm of rain per hour water spouts suddenly descend on the region the abrupt rise in water is more than the area can bear because the region sits at the foot of the Himalayas rain on the mountain side floods down onto the ground below adding to the inundation and it isn't just the precipitation as the power powerful pounding rain hits the peaks of the mountain it melts the snow cap and the glaciers magnifying the catastrophe in this flash flood millions of cubic meters of rain and meltwater race down the mountain side and into the valley at high speed toward the vulnerable Villages below this monsoon season the rainfall increased by 375% compared to normal worse at the time several Hydro El electric dams were under construction in the area huge blocks of rock extracted from the construction sites and abandoned on the sides of the mountains are washed away by the waves of water they tumble down the mountain and smash into the defenseless houses in the valley anything in the path of the torrents of debris pouring down from the peak Peaks is destroyed the trees are uprooted houses are washed away roads Bridges and railroads are buried besides the Raging Water and pounding rocks the fast flowing water triggers gigantic landslides which destroy everything the rain hasn't already carried away then there's the human cost as tens of thousands of pilgrims find themselves trapped when the water finally subsides full measure of the destruction can be tallied the monsoon leaves 6,000 dead and thousands homeless the bodies washed away by the flood will be found several weeks later miles away their decomposing corpses will lead to the spread of disease and pollute drinking water resources further increasing the number of victims the tragedy continues to haunt the surviving inhabitants but for them the nightmare is far from over and history can repeat climate change has already wrought consequences on the region accelerating the ice melt in the Himalayas and the next torrential Reigns that fall on utaran could well trigger new disaster even more destructive after India we head to Italy to discover one of Europe's most dramatic flooding events of the 20th century it took place in 1963 in the former province of ponon in the northeast of the country it is here that gigantic project the ill-conceived vont dam was built colossal construction erected between two steep mountains the dam was intended to block the course of river to create new Reservoir Upstream of the Dam built between 1956 and 1960 at the foot of Mont talk the work overlooks of Valley where the village of long Arona and its 4,000 inhabitants were located at the time the 266 high vant was the highest dam in the world and it was the pride of the whole country except that what the designers hadn't anticipated was that the two sides of the mountains on which it rested were not completely stable on October 9th 1963 at precisely 10:39 p.m. as the inhabitants of the valley below are preparing to go to bed all hell breaks loose gigantic Landslide is triggered on the side of the mountain in Flash 260 million cubic of water flow into the reservoir all at once the equivalent of more than half billion tons of rock Roar down the 140 long slope at Colossal speed the Dam's sudden collapse triggers wave nearly 150 High the onslaught is similar to tsunami passing over the ruptured wall of water taller than the Statue of Liberty or the Pyramid of kops absolutely no one is prepared one of the most horrifying disasters in Italian History flood that roared down from the viant dam and decimated valley The Villages of longaron Pago Villanova rivalta and Fay are wiped off the map the cataclysm lasts barely 15 minutes result more than 2,000 dead and hundreds of homes destroyed the government dispatches 2,000 soldiers to help the rescue teams despite their efforts the bodies of hundreds of victims will never be found the investigation will later show that the disaster was entirely preventable and that the geology of the area should have prohibited the authorities from building dam there at this location the sides of the mountains had been formed by successive landl slides over the course of Millennia rendering it inherently unstable and between each layer of rock was layer of loose clay just 10 cm thick the dam with this new Reservoir gradually saturated the mountain sides with water inevitably weakening the soil from the beginning the question was not whether the ground would collapse but when following the disaster the area was permanently obstructed by gigantic Hill reaching 850 High preventing the River from flowing at the level of the dam the collapse deviated the course of the river so that it flows into valley further to the east since then the town of longaron has been completely rebuilt as for the vant dam it still stands between the two walls of mountain and has been transed formed into place of Remembrance in memory of those who lost their lives on that day in October 1963 after Italy let's head back to Asia and more specifically to Japan to discover the disaster which takes sixth place in our ranking it occurred in 2011 when terrible earthquake hit the Pacific coast of the tohoku region tsunamis are among the most destructive events on the planet they are triggered when massive amount of water is suddenly displaced by landslide volcanic eruption or underwater earthquake on March 11th 2011 at 2:46 p.m. terrible earthquake of magnitude 9.1 was triggered 130 km offshore and about 29 km below the surface of the Pacific Ocean it was the fourth most powerful earthquake ever recorded on earth so powerful that it changed the AIS of rotation of the earth and shifted the main island of Japan hu more than 2 toward the East Point simply the biggest longest lasting earthquake I've ever experienced here in an instant the earthquake displaced billions of tons of water causing the formation of huge waves that raced ahead at more than 800 kmph about as fast as an airliner the first waves some 40 High slammed the Japanese Coast 30 minutes after the earthquake they completely overwhelmed the anti- tsunami dkes built on the island to protect the land from these sea monsters the surging water sweeps away absolutely everything the waves toss cars and trucks around like toys turning them into battering rams that smash into homes and buildings creating even more damage the energy of the tsunami is such that on the other side of the ocean waves reach the coast of Chile more than 17,000 km away even at that distance they measure more than 2 high and unimaginable power in Japan more than 100,000 buildings are annihilated and 1 million are badly damaged in just few minutes and while hundreds of thousands of Japanese people try desperately to survive in and around their homes another drama begins to play out at the Fukushima nuclear power plant the facilities have been designed to withstand tsunamis but no one anticipated tsunami event of such incredible magnitude the Giant Wave deactivated the Nuclear reactor's cooling systems Uncharted Territory we are thinking the unthinkable think of car out of control without brakes and then your radiator as authorities work to immediately Evacuate the residents of the towns nearby the nuclear power plant some Fukushima employees fight to prevent the reactors from melting down the stage is set for nuclear disaster even more serious than that of chernov the consequences threatened the entire planet three reactors collapse and several explosions occur at the site but the heroes of Fukushima managed to prevent the destruction of the reactors since then officials say that while the Fukushima plant continues to spew radioactive isotopes emissions are down sharply as for the floods triggered by this giant tsunami they ring up death toll of more than 15,000 people the damage is estimated at more than $450 billion this was disaster The World Won't soon forget let's head now to South America to discover the event that earns the fifth place in our ranking it was terrible flood that struck the Venezuelan state of Gua known at the time as the state of Vargas the region borders the Caribbean Sea and most of the cities of the state are located on the coast the densely populated area with more than 300,000 inhab inants is regularly hit by floods so it's situation that the people living there have more or less come to expect but what happened at the end of 1999 defied expectations the season turned out to be exceptionally rainy starting in November weeks of torrential rains fall continuously and on December 14th while the inhabitants are experiencing their 37th consecutive day of rain violent storm strikes the the region the state of Vargas is hit with Year's worth of rain in just 3 days in barely 52 hours nearly 1 meter of rain Pours Down Over the already saturated ground with nowhere for the water to go Rivers overflow and the areas along the banks are completely swamped the storm also triggers thousands of landslides loading the flooding rivers with debris as the water mixes with mud tree trunks Rock and anything and everything else it creates destructive flash flood at nearly 50 kmph that nothing can resist hundreds of vehicles and homes are Swept Away surprised by the speed and magnitude of the event the Venezuelan authorities have no time to order evacu uations and many residents stay home thinking they are safe just waiting for the Deluge to stop their decision proves fatal for most of them one by one muddy mountains slide into the sea in wave after wave that swallows the inhabited areas along the coast huge swaths of coastal towns are wiped off the map in an instant building get washed out to sea or simply buried under 3 thick layer of mud entire towns have been swallowed up by the mud and many victims are believed to be buried under it all most of the roads and bridges are destroyed and 96 km of Coastline devastated damage was estimated at more than 3 billion dollar the human toll is estimated at 30,000 dead but only 1,000 bodies will be found the others intuned by mud or swept irretrievably out to sea makes the exact number of victims of the Vargas disaster unknowable in the aftermath many residents pin the blame for the catastrophe on the government and especially on President Hugo Chavez at the time Chavez had been president for just 10 months and the country was in the middle of an election to change the Constitution some will accuse the authorities of focusing more on the election than on the evacuation of the inhabitants threatened by the floods the drama demonstrated how unprepared the Venezuelan authorities were to deal with such disaster but the events of December 1999 in the state of Vargas are above all terrible and Relentless proof that with her without prior planning nothing can stand in the way of flood of such magnitude after South America let's hop over to Africa the flood that takes fourth place in our ranking covers more than single country and spans more than single event it concerns almost the entire subsaharan Africa the phenomenon is considered by some to be one of the worst natural disasters of all time most countries on the African continent are subject to recurrent cycle of droughts and floods these events have always had an impact on the population but they have also enabled people to survive in Aid areas because after period without precipitation the rain is essential to replenish the water tables and recharge the soil with minerals essential for agriculture but the climate change of unfolding during the 20th century has drastically changed the equation and Africa is experiencing succession of events with increasingly catastrophic consequences over the past 40 years the continent has been hit by three times as many droughts four times as many storms and worse 10 times more flooding than ever before and when heavy rains fall on an arid Zone the consequence for the inhabitants are terrible because in these regions the Earth can't absorb the sudden inundation of so much water worse excessive deforestation for agriculture and livestock has only intensified the already dire situation without trees the soil becomes even more vulnerable to erosion and the risk of landslides increases considerably the grinding Poverty of many many countries in subsaharan Africa amplifies the misery of each event it is estimated today that 70 million people living in extreme poverty conditions are threatened by recurrent risks of flooding and when floods strike the inhabitants can lose what little they have in an instant today studies show that this extreme weather is caused by climate change pattern emerging is one of the rising temp temperatures compounded by the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall events subsaharan Africa has also seen an overall decrease of rain during the rainy season meaning prolonged droughts the situation is only getting worse over the past 20 years more than dozen countries in Africa have been hit by the worst floods in recent history these disasters have already victimized thousands of people but the events to come threaten tens of millions more the damage has already been assessed at several billion dollars the tragedy of these successive floods in Africa has only just begun both Chinese Japanese are accused of causing the breach but the Yellow River has way of breaking its own bank there is an actual gap of water streaming through after Africa let's return to Asia to witness the event that earned third place in the ranking of the worst floods in history Yellow River it took place in China in 1938 in the heart of Hanan Province new spirit of unity animates ancient China by the end of the 1930s China had been plunged into bloody Civil War for more than decade country is divided in two part of the population is under the control of the official nationalist government under the leadership of Chang Kai Sheek the rest is controlled by local Lords or Chinese Communist Party insurgents meanwhile Japan aware of the chaos that Reigns in its neighbor sees an opportunity and invades China in 1937 the second Sino Japanese war begins from the month of August the Japanese Imperial Army quickly seizes the main cities of the country the fighting is incredibly violent and in June 1938 Japan already wins control of northern China seemingly Unstoppable Japanese troops continue to advance through the heart of Province on their way to Wuhan one of the largest cities in the region pushed to the brink Chang Kai Sheek make rash and cataclysmic decision now as the Japs Advanced on chencha the Chinese blew up the southern Dyke of the Yellow River he orders troops to deliberately destroy the dkes that hold back the Yellow River near the city of Jang juu the Yellow River crosses from east to west north of the province of Hanan it is the sixth longest river in the world and at the time its flow rate was 14,000 cubic m/ second enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools every second the rupture of the dkes will trigger catastrophic flood over the entire western part of the province the Raging flood fills the valley leaving nothing in its wake from military perspective Chen kai-shek's decision made it possible to slow the Japanese troops and give the Chinese troops time to withdraw and reorganize but in human terms the disaster didn't differentiate between soldiers and civilians the inhabitants of henan Province will be the collateral victims of the Chinese leaders brutal strategy not of armies but of nature the Yellow River is in flood driving hundreds of thousands from their homes and delaying the Japanese Advance as the torrent of water cuts path through the valley floor it floods huge area in some places the width of the river exceeds 64 km and the average depth of 2 makes all the infrastructure in the region impassible and so another migration is underway of villagers seeking dry land more than 90% of villages in fugo County are wiped out much of the agricultural land is submerged covered in thick layer of silt that will make it unfit for cultivation for several years over the next few weeks the flooding will spread and faced with the power of the waters other dkes will give way in turn in total more than 130,000 Square km of land will be buried under the waters chain Kai Shack's ruthless maneuver is still considered one of the worst military decisions in history the exact toll is impossible to count but some estimate it at 900,000 dead most of them civilians dark rending is rescue of lone survivor whose family has been swept away by the millions of inhabitants who survived the flood will find themselves homeless forced to take refuge in makeshift camps where epidemics and famine increase the number of victims it will take decade for the Yellow River to regain its original course but the Landscapes of the region will never be the same as it was the damage caused by this disaster can never be fully Quantified the consequences for the population and for the country are simply unprecedented there is truly no other intentionally caused catastrophe that can even come close to Chang kai-shek's order to flood the Yellow River in 1938 here is record flood triggered by single man who was willing to sacrifice his own people to buy little time in war he was losing it's the most senseless act of war in history the clock Frozen at 8:30 the time the date the year Indonesia will never forget we'll stay in Asia to explore the event that takes second place in our ranking we head to Indonesia where cataclysmic tsunami struck the coast in 2004 good evening more than 11,000 people are now thought to have been killed in southern Asia after an undersea earthquake sent enormous waves rolling across the Indian Ocean earthquake struck the two plates collided it all started on the morning of December 26th 2004 the effect was felt right across the ocean an otherwise ordinary day turns to Terror as seismographs detect magnitude 9.1 earthquake just 160 km off the coast of Sumatra after Chile in 1960 and Alaska in 1964 this is the third most powerful earthquake ever recorded it releases energy equal to 20,000 hirosima bombs the power of the earthquake is so ferocious that it temporarily Alters the rotation of the earth the tremors are felt within radius of several thousand kilom for 10 long minutes the Earth will shake and the seabed will tear apart over an area nearly 1,000 km long the Tremors instantly trigger giant waves that break in all directions and especially on the coasts of the Indonesian islands for inhabited areas located on the edge of the ocean the consequences are apocalyptic Indonesian authorities knew tsunami was coming they'd been alerted by the anti- tsunami surveillance system an array of buoys designed for early detection they raced to send out an alert but their frantic attempts to warn the population by text messages come to nothing most of their warnings never reach their destination because the earthquake destroyed their telecommunication systems residents of bonda AE Province are the first to be affected by the tsunami just 20 minutes after the Quake struck off the coast waves 30 High slam the area and race more than 3 km Inland anything less than 20 high is submerged by the Raging Waters in the space of few minutes nearly 100,000 people lose their lives but the disaster is far from finished the devastation in Sumatra is just the Prelude an hour later the gigantic waves of death that race across the Indian Ocean at 800 kmph hit the Thai islands and wipe out several Seaside Resorts killing more than 5,000 people 30 minutes later more than 2400 km away the waves reach Sri Lanka and devastate 800 km of Coastline Homes hotels anything near the edge of the water is raised in an instant along with the loss of 30,000 human lives and the devastation isn't done minutes later later it's India's turn to be hit by the tsunami which claims another 16,000 victims no life here will never be the same again the tsunami's awesome power is still not spent it has one more deadly stop to make over 8 hours it travels more than 8,000 km to the coast of South Africa where it swamps group of swimmers and then at last it withdraws the waves killing at least 500 in this fishing Village near cadore these people have lost everything their homes their livelihoods and their families wherever tsunami strikes the cycle is the same first super powerful wave devastates everything in its path followed by another that loads up with debris to cause even more damage we've seen so many bodies here but this is the only one we've seen having any sort of funeral rights 9 hours after the earthquake the toll of the this terrible disaster will report 225,000 dead in 14 countries over radius of more than 8,000 km Carried Away by the waters many bodies of victims will never be found tens of thousands of buildings and untold amounts of infrastructure were destroyed the extent of the damage is almost impossible to quantify in all nearly quarter of the planet was impacted by by the tsunami of December 26th 2004 terrible proof that when the ocean unleashes its rage nothing can hold it back now as the Japs Advanced on chencha the Chinese blew up the Dyke of the Yellow River our ranking of the planet's 10 worst floods has already taken us to China in the late 1930s when the country's leader Chang Kai Sheek had the dkes of the Yellow River destroyed in 1938 causing the death of several 100,000 people the Japanese Advance the city of Hana now underwater and now we return to China to discover the watery event that takes the terrible ranking of first place in our Countdown the disaster occurred just 7 years before the Yellow River disaster in 1931 it hit Hub Province and it surpasses anything we have seen so far Chinese armies valiantly defended their City at the time China is already in the throws of brutal Civil War and the official Chinese government is battling against the Communists the war leads to worrying depletion of resources and is ravaging the country's economy too busy fighting and in dire need of funds the government unwisely decides not to carry out the work needed to prevent the risk of flooding of the yangzi river which crosses the country from east to west at 6380 km it is the longest river in China the third longest river in the world but the winter of 1931 is particularly brutal the snow never seems to stop and thick blanket of it quickly Smothers the sides of the mountains that surrounded the city of Wuhan capital of Hub province in the winter it's not problem but when the spring thaw comes the situation begins to get little worrying snow melt quickly overflows the yangi river and the first floods infiltrate areas near the river things grow more dire by summer in July 1931 nature proved to be merciless eight Cyclones successively hit the region in barely 1 month then continuous rainfall trigger the worst flood in history 60 cm of water pour into the region in less than 30 days causing the smallest Dyke in the river to burst the flood waters submerge thousands of square kilometers of land it destroys the crops it wipes out the grain reserves but the worst is yet to come the floods destroyed the walls protecting the city of Wuhan at the time one of the most densely populated areas on the planet with nothing to slow it down the invading wall of water sweeps through the city destroying everything in its path and killing thousands of people and as the Calamity plunges Wuhan into chaos the rain continues unabated and the high speed floods keep coming cities are under at the peak of the flood the water submerges more than 80,000 Square km of land that's an area equal to all of England and large part of Scotland in some areas the water will rise to 16 above its usual level entire towns are completely submerged as if erased from the surface of the Earth the rainfall and the rising of the yangzi river are so immense that the flood spread to cover large part of the country and cause most other Chinese rivers to overflow further intensifying the damage and the number of victims strange Caravans FL wearily on to Safety in the unflooded Thailand broken lives with days of utter horror behind it is now estimated that more than 50 million people were displaced by the floods for several weeks Food Supplies would be scarce for their survivors and water supplies would remain polluted with sewage for long time famine and disease made the 1931 floods in China the greatest natural disaster of the 20th century the total toll is still debated but most experts estimate it at 3.7 million dead it's difficult to say if these apocalyptic floods might have been prevented or reduced if the the Chinese government had carried out the work essential to protect the populations who lived along the banks of the yangi river all together million people have lost their homes 100,000 have lost their lives but what is certain is that to date no other natural event has cost so many human lives one of the most horrifying disasters in Italian History flood that roared down from the viant dam and decimated valley best estimates put the to in 1800 these are powerful images images of the worst floods in history that prove to what extent nature picks its battles and plays by its own unchanging indifferent rules and while water is essential to life when faced with the terrible damage caused by these disasters and the number of victims they left behind the conclusion is clear nothing can thwart the devastating power of water our past is punctuated by tragedies that have traumatized entire Generations around the world but our future doesn't look much different we are already threatened by climate change and the increase of extreme weather events wherever we are in the world we must find out how to better predict floods and to learn to anti anticipate and deal with them because let's face it water always wins when disaster happens it becomes news around the globe whether it's the scale or the spectacle look at the debris look at all the debris look at all the debris in the air the financial cost or the lives lost these massive events fill mankind with Fascination and fear in this series we're looking at some of the biggest disasters to ever strike the planet Mounds twisted steel and cables Mark spot over river in Vietnam where bridge under construction has collapsed for the next hour we'll see some of Mankind's greatest engineering achievements fall prey to accidents negligence and design flaws in better times they carry us safely over rivers and valleys or under cities and mountains but when things go wrong they can become deadly to anyone using them take great care and watch the path ahead because today we're looking at the top 10 bridge and tunnel disasters over the Millennia humans have demonstrated spectacular genius for building we've erected pyramids Cathedrals towers and have met increasingly technical challenges to build monuments that defined each era and among the most spectacular constructions two moved us further along than any other Bridges and tunnels building bridge over the void or digging tunnel under millions of tons of rock requires high level of technological prowess to achieve result that's both efficient and safe but unfortunately even with the greatest advances risk can't be completely factored out and history has proven that under just the right or wrong conditions these masterpieces of engineering can become state-of-the-art death traps to select the 10 worst ever bridge and tunnel disasters we've studied the human and financial toll of accidents that took place around the world since the 19th century we start our countown with the event that occupies the 10th place in our ranking suspension bridges are among the most spectacular structures in the world some like San Francisco's Golden Gate have even become symbols of an entire city but another one of these constructions marked history in more dramatic way let's head to the city of Tacoma Washington in the US where suspension bridge collapsed just months after its debut the opening of the new $6.5 million Tacoma Narrows Bridge over Puget South July 1st 1940 the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens with great Fanfare 1810 long the bridge connects the city of Tacoma to the city of Gig Harbor located on the the Olympic Peninsula it crosses an arm of the sea known as Puget Sound construction took one year the principle of suspension bridges is to support the load of the bridge deck by cables which are secured at both ends for the design of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge the engineers relied on technique called elastic distribution in principle in the event of strong winds the suspension rods are supposed to distribute the load evenly over an entire structure but instead of stiffening the deck with beams 7.6 thick the Tacoma Narrows Engineers chose beams 2.5 thick it cut costs and gave the bridge finer more Majestic profile but on November 7th 1940 barely 4 months after commissioning and during gusts of 65 kmph wind the bridge begins to oscillate the deck starts to twist little by little at first and then gradually gaining amplitude despite its 15,000 tons of steel and concrete the Tacoma Bridge gets tossed around by the wind like child's toy Bridge workers had suspected the inherent FL flaws of the bridge during its construction they even nicknamed it Galloping Gertie because at the slightest gust of wind they felt like they were on galloping horse University of Washington engineering Professor federick farus had been tasked with finding solution to the Bridge's annoying tendency to wobble but he didn't get chance to complete his assignment before that fateful day in November 1940 when the bridge and his work abruptly ended he can be seen in the distance in an act of Bravery he's trying to rescue dog stuck in the car but the terrified animal won't let him approach and farus fearing for his own safety has no choice but to abandon the bridge and the dog as it happens on that day two amateur cameramen from the region Barney Elliott and harbine Monroe are on the scene with their 16mm cameras they managed to capture these images some of the most spectacular in the history of civil engineering the bridge snaps and large part of it crashes into the water 60 below luckily the bridge had been evacuated before it collapsed only tubby the dog stuck in the car perishes in the accident 500 ft above fugit sand Washington they're building new bridge over the Tacoma narrow 10 years later in 1950 new bridge was built to replace the notoriously failed and famous Tacoma Narrows but this time Engineers used much more robust materials and factored in the effects of the pummeling winds in 2007 the structure is joined by second suspension bridge to cope with the increase in traffic Tacoma hasn't suffered any more Bridge catastrophes like the one on November 7th 1940 but in some sense even that bridge still survives in these Unforgettable images of the 15,000 ton Bridge twisting in the wind like rubber band whatever its design bridge requires regular monitoring to detect any deterioration as early as possible the stakes are high so diligent maintenance is imperative putting it off means putting lives at risk and yet so many structurally deficient Bridges remain unrepaired that's the case with the bridge that takes the Ninth Place in our ranking it happen in the heart of Minneapolis the state capital of Minnesota in the United States in 2007 the huge Mississippi river runs 3780 km and crosses the center of the country from North to South among the 130 bridges that span it one has particularly tragic history the Interstate 35 Motorway Bridge opened in 1967 it linked the vibrant cities of Minneapolis and St Paul serving 141,000 Vehicles day as continuous trust Bridge every part of its structure depended on every other part to keep its Integrity continuous trust bridges are common strong and uniquely vulnerable if not maintained this eight lane bridge known as Bridge 9340 was rated structurally deficient in 1990 in 2001 some of the girs were cracking in 2005 Engineers recommended replacing it but on August 1st 2007 at 6:05 p.m. portion of the 160 Bridge suddenly collapses during rush hour the images captured by surveillance camera Shock the World 111 Vehicles fall 35 some find themselves stuck in the rubble of concrete and steel others sink directly into the waters in the Mississippi rescue teams on site in just 6 minutes managed to free all the survivors from their cars and take the seriously injured to the hospital just before nightfall real Triumph but between the currents and the rubel of the destroyed Bridge finding the victims who fell into the river is the greatest challenge 3 days later the weight and the pain are agonizing dozens of relatives of those killed in the Wednesday bridge collapse and those still missing received private tour of the site getting look at the mangled remains and grieving together the divers spend 3 weeks trying to recover the vehicles swept away after the collapse of the bridge and finding the bodies of all the victims the final count is 13 dead and 145 injured the tragedy could have been much worse it also could have been prevented if the damning reports from the inspections were acted upon few years earlier Engineers had originally anticipated needing to replace the bridge in 2020 only it didn't even last that long an inspection after the collapse revealed why analysis of the wreckage exposed design flaw plates used to connect girders to the truss were too thin one buckled failed and triggered domino effect on the others the damage tore along rivet line leading to total collapse workers setting concrete welding hoisting sections into place and amid paints taking labor the new I35 Bridge takes shape barely year later the city will inaugurate the St Anthony Falls bridge built in record time at the same location as the old structure completely different design this new con conrete Bridge was equipped with 323 sensors to detect the slightest vibrations in real time since then Minneapolis residents have continued to confidently cross the Mississippi every day with thought for those who lost their lives in the Interstate 35 bridge disaster among all the types of bridges the so-called cable stay bridges are among the world's most widespread in these Bridges huge oblique cables called stays are connected to pylons distributed over the entire length of the structure and are anchored to the deck to support the load evenly the disaster that takes the eighth place in the ranking concerns an early version of one of these Bridges it happened in Italy in 2008 in the city of Genoa in this port city of more than 500,000 people huge Bridge was built in the early 1960s and inaugurated on September 4th 1967 the Vera Viaduct better known as the Randy Bridge named after its designer Ricardo mirandi located on the A10 Motorway that connects Italy to France the bridge was major transport axis spanning 1182 it length the city center to the industrial Port by passing over the pcha river the railway network of the freight station several industrial sites and residential area the structure was composed of two distinct Parts the first 484 long rested on v-shaped peers very closely spaced from each other the second 618 long whose span exceeded 200 in length had three 90 High pylons from which cable stays could support the load but on the morning of August 14th 2018 210 section of the busy mirandi Bridge collapses with no warning about 40 Vehicles plummet into the river and Valley by the fall of the deck killing most of their occupants instantly fortunately traffic is light because it's public holiday Rescuers extract 16 survivors from the rebel but the disaster claims 43 lives 4 days later Italy honors the victims with national funeral in Genoa but half of the victim's families refuse to participate they lay the blame for this senseless trag tragedy completely on the Italian government they cite Decades of problems with the bridge and history of negligence almost since its opening in 1967 throughout the 1970s the bridge underwent continual maintenance to repair cracks in the overstressed concrete moisture penetration through the cracks hastened corrosion of the metal surfaces in the 1990s inspections revealed that corrosion had also severely damaged the peers and stay cables the bridge could support only half its intended load the Government tried reinforcement but it was not enough and in 2016 the Italian transport Minister was alerted several times that the bridge needed urgent repairs in 2017 an inspection revealed that the stay cables of Pier number had reached critical level of corrosion to the point of failure companies were invited to bid on the repair work but it was too late on August 14th 2018 the failure of peer number nine triggered catastrophic torsion of the deck that triggered the collapse of part of the mirandi bridge for almost year the broken skeleton of the bridge stood as witness and Grim Memorial to the tragedy that claimed 43 lives by June 2019 new bridge was planned and the remains of the ill- fated mirandi Bridge were demolished with explosives in 7 Seconds approximately 4500 tons of concrete and steel from the two huge cable State piles number 10 and 11 collapsed in cloud of dust year later new bridge of 1,67 was born designed by Renzo Piano the famous architect from Genoa the work is symbol of the country's new attitude of increased responsibility to its citizens and its infrastructure for the victim's families and to all the Italian people it stands as promise that an avoidable tragedy like the 2017 disaster of the marandi bridge will never happen again Bridges make it possible to span rivers and valleys tunnels enable us to pass through mountains it takes incredible Feats of engineering to grind channel through solid ancient Rock and no tunnel is truly complete until it meets major challenge assuring the safety of vehicles that use it despite best intentions things can go wrong bringing us to number seven on our countdown we'll now head to the Alpine mountains on the border between France and Italy where terrible fire broke out in 1999 in the Mont Blanc tunnel towering 48008 the roof of Western Europe Mont Blanc reaches its highest point in France only few kilometers from Italy traveling between the two countries through the Alps used to mean taking small mountain roads and narrow passes many of these winding corridors are closed in winter solution was devised after the war to dig an 11.6 km long tunnel to directly Link shamoni in France to Kor in Italy Monumental work whose route passes exactly in line with the aui dumi Mont blanc's legendary Summit the first attempts were dug on the Italian side in 1946 but the work officially started in 1959 it took 6 years to build the structure which would be called The Mont Blanc tunnel when it was inaugurated in 1965 it was the longest road tunnel in the world and reduced the journey between France and Italy by nearly 100 kilm with more than 100,000 Vehicles passing through per month tunnel traffic is dense every day the tunnel is used by tourists crossb workers and especially heavy trucks transporting goods between the two countries inside everything had been planned so that drivers could cross the 12 km tunnel in complete safety but unfortunately there's always room for risk on March 24th 1999 shortly after 10:45 a.m. truck driver enters the tunnel on the French side 4 minutes later smoke begins to Billow from his cabin at 10:53 after having traveled 6 km he stops his truck is on fire fire unable to get close enough with his fire extinguisher the driver decides to flee some motorists manage to pass the truck others turn around but the semi-trailers are stuck the burning truck contains load of Highly flammable margarine as explosive as tanker truck the small fire turns into an inferno the temperature Soares and thick toxic smoke begins to spread for the 40 blocked vehicles and most of their drivers there is no way out the Italian firefighters racing to the scene are forced to abandon their Vans just 300 from the fire in less than 5 minutes all the vehicles located near the burning truck begin to ignite the smoke Laden with carbon monoxide and cyanide thickens electrical cables melt in the Flames the tunnel is plunged Into Darkness at the heart of the Blaze the temperature exceeds 1,000° and The Cloud of toxic smoke spread to the entrance on the French side the fire continues to intensify and firefighters and Emergency Services cannot intervene without putting the lives of The Rescuers in danger the fire will burn for three days for and it will take 5 days for the temperatures inside the tunnel to drop to bearable levels so that the clearing work can begin when The Rescuers finally manage to reach the center of the tunnel they discover an apocalyptic scene burnt out Vehicles charred bodies 29 people died in their vehicles nine others tried to flee on foot but died of asphixiation following this tragedy new safety measures are put in place in tunnels around the world to alleviate smoke in the event of fire during the trial in 2005 12 people including the mayor of shamoni and the head of tunnel security were found guilty of manslaughter and negligence they were sentence to prison terms of 4 to 30 months the truck driver who escaped unscathed by abandoning his vehicle received 4mon suspended sentence it's sad irony that it takes 39 deaths and tragedy like the one in the Mont block tunnel to create better safety protocols but the situation here is not unique crossing the Alps has always been real challenge many other Road and rail tunnels drilled through the mountains to more quickly connect France Italy Switzerland and Germany and the Mont Blan tunnel is not the only one to have experienced terrible disaster to investigate the event that takes sixth place in the ranking let's head to Switzerland where another large-scale fire hit the San gotar tunnel in 2001 the sanar massive in Switzerland culminates at more than 3600 throughout history its position has made it highly strategic location located on the north south axis it has to be crossed to connect the industrial regions of Northern Europe and the ports of roddam and antp to Northern Italy and the cities of Milan and Turin as well as the port of Jenis in 1969 Road tunnel was built to facilitate European trade stretching 17 km it exceeds the Mont Blanc tunnel and when it opened it was the longest tunnel in the world with 6 million vehicles per year including 900,000 heavyweight Vehicles traffic is extremely heavy in both directions and if collision occurs inside such long tunnel the consequences can be terrible and that's what happened on October 24th 2001 at 9:45 a.m. two trucks Collide about 1.5 km from the South exit under the impact fuel tank ruptures spilling puddle of diesel onto the road short circuiting electric cable causes spark and triggers gigantic Blaze one of the two trucks is transporting tires black thick and toxic smoke fills the tunnel the temperature suddenly Soares 200s of degrees cels visibility is reduced to zero and the air becomes unbreathable but the sanar tunnel is better designed than the older Mont Blanc tunnel and equipped with an evacuation gall it is accessed by emergency exits placed every 250 and runs along the road for its entire length ventilation systems also help remove smoke the next day when the temperature inside the tunnel had dropped the Emergency Services discovered more than 40 charred vehicles and among them the carcasses of the two heavyweight Vehicles responsible for the accident despite the tunnel safety features 11 people are found dead it could have been much worse if the structure had not been equipped with an emergency gallery and an efficient ventilation system but in Switzerland the tragedy will revive the debate on the density of road traffic within the San Gard tunnel to relieve congestion 57 km rail tunnel was inaugurated in 2020 called the sanar base tunnel it has become the longest tunnel in the world and its construction cost more than 20 billion EUR even more construction of second tunnel next to the first has already started by 2032 each direction of traffic will have its own tunnel to reduce the risk of collision and ensure that the disaster of October 24th 2001 can never happen again from the beginning of the 21st century Asia has seen the construction of monumental Bridges China Taiwan Malaysia Thailand structures several kilometers long have been built in many countries one of them the bridge kuna made headlines following terrible tragedy that occurred during its construction the disaster takes fifth place in the ranking it happens in September 2007 in Vietnam in the city of Kuna in the south of the country with population of 1.2 million kuna is the largest city in the meong Delta its legendary river is the fourth longest in Asia in 2004 construction began of four-lane cable State Road Bridge designed to cross one of the arms of the meong and connect the province of Vin long to the city of counta the objective to replace slow and overcrowded ferry service the ambitious project was slated to last 4 years and cost over $300 million but 3 years in on September 26th 2007 at 8:00 a.m. portion of the 87 long access ramp 30 High collapses while 250 workers are constructing it Mounds twisted steel and cable Mark spot over river in Vietnam where bridge under construction has collapsed the tragedy is unbearable for 4 days Rescuers struggled to reach survivors trapped under tons of Tangled concrete and steel the four-lane bridge was supposed to be finished in 2008 it would have been the largest suspension bridge in Vietnam the magnitude of the collapse made the rescue difficult in the end 54 are dead and more than 100 are injured adding quote we still don't know the cause the ramp portion was supported by three pillars numbers 13 14 and 15 one hypothesis for the cause of the accident is that the heavy rains had softened the ground at the construction site and the concrete of the peers were stripped too soon when the concrete for the deck was poured it multiplied the load by three according to Witnesses pillar number 14 began to tilt tearing part of the deck located above pillar number 13 that pillar then tilted and caused the entire formwork to fall in domino effect the entire portion under construction collapsed some experts claimed that the builders had been cautioned 8 months before the accident that the pillars could only support 15% of the expected load but the work continued despite the warning and no specific measures were taken this overt negligence led to one of Vietnam's greatest civil engineering disasters to date among the types of bridges that have enabled humans to cross rivers perhaps the most unusual is The Floating Bridge quick to install floating bridges are often used by military forces when water course blocks advancing troops and vehicles bridge that floats seems like safe bet but not always this catastrophe takes the fourth place in our ranking it happened in the Portuguese city of Porto the city is famous throughout the world for the six bridges that connect the banks of the Doro river between Porto and the Via Nova DEA these Bridges include the araba bridge closest to the mouth of the river and the Dom Louise Bridge symbol of the city and UNESCO world heritage site but before these Bridges more than 200 years ago another Bridge crossed the Doro and ended in disaster back then Portugal erected floating Bridge called pente de barcas or the bridge of the boats to help the citizens of Porto and their goods circulate between the banks of the river designed by the Portuguese engineer and architect Carlos Amarante the structure consisted of 20 boats connected by Steel cables it could be opened in two parts to allow River traffic it was inaugurated in August 15th 1806 but 3 years later Napoleon's forces attacked Portugal triggering the first battle of Porto as the soldiers enter the city and begin to evacuate the citizens shooting those who refuse to obey the inhabitants have only one option to flee across the river thousands of men women and children rush to the Puente de barcus the sheer number of people racing uncontrollably across the bridge creates situation that the engineers could never have imagined when they designed the structure the bridge simply isn't up to the task it shakes apart and sinks into the Doro taking many lives with it it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 people lost their lives that day drowned in the Raging Waters of the Doro while trying to escape the French troops and it was all for nothing barely 1 month later the city was retaken from Napoleon's Hands by Portuguese and British forces the fall of the pentes dearis isn't just sad Day in Portuguese history it's also the deadliest bridge accident in the world to access the snow capped Peaks skiers can use cable cars chair lifts or less widespread but very efficient system called funicular two cars placed on Rails are connected to each other by cables the cars function like counterweights the descending car is held by the weight of the ascending one while the ascending car is partly pulled upwards thanks to the energy generated by the descending car this reliable system enables you to climb the steepest slopes in complete safety most of the time funicular was the sight of one of the deadliest recent disasters this one takes third place in our ranking it happened in Austria in 2000 in the small town of caun located south of salsburg caun is renowned Austrian Resort where tourists come to enjoy spectacular ski area open 11 months of the year the kit Stein horn Glacier Rising more than 3200 above sea level to access the slopes funicular was inaugurated in 1974 one of the most modern of its time the two trains could scale 30° slope at 25 km per hour taking 9 minutes to cross the 3900 route including 3200 inside tunnel in the morning of November 11th 2000 161 passengers board the funicular in the front cabin the driver operates the doors as the train heads uphill the rear cabin is empty but an auxilary electric heater keeps working and that's where the trouble Begins the device is defective and catches fire the Flames quickly melt the plastic tubing that circulates the funicular flammable hydraulic fluid the resulting drop in pressure stops the funicular in its tracks 600 inside the tunnel the fire then begins spreading through the train trapping the 161 passengers at the front the driver manages to open the doors to escape the Flames passengers naturally flee towards the summit wrong and deadly Choice the tunnel acts like gigantic chimney sucking in oxygen from below to feed the fire and pushing toxic fumes upward every passenger who runs forward dies of asphixiation along with everyone 2 and 1 12 kilom further up in the arrival station ironically only those who ran downhill toward the Fire come out alive the next day while the fire Fighters manage to get the fire under control The Rescuers can finally enter the tunnel they discover scene of Devastation the death toll is 155 it will take several weeks to identify the bodies of the victims charred by the flames only 11 passengers survive trial is held but the Austrian courts released the 16 people accused of negligence despite protests from the victim's families no personal fault could be proven since then the tunnel has been sealed and the funicular rails were destroyed 4 years after the tragedy of November 11th 2000 memorial was installed near the sight of the disaster in memory of the 155 people who lost their lives pedestrian bridges are elegant popular and very useful for crossing waterways Railways or highways and sometimes for linking buildings the disaster that takes second place in our ranking happened on foot bridge in Kansas City Missouri in the US in 1981 at the time the Hyatt Regency was one one of the most luxurious hotels in the city opened in July 1980 the building was distinguished by the large volume of its Lobby featuring three catwalks suspended from the ceiling by steel rods they connected the North and South Wings to the second third and fourth floors each measured about 37 long and weighed nearly 29 tons the fourth floor walkway was located parallel to the second floor walkway in July 17th 1981 in the early evening the dance hall was full as600 people had come to attend Dance Festival 20 people are on the catwalk on the fourth floor 40 on the second floor walkway all are watching the event below when suddenly the catwalk on the fourth floor collapses smashing onto the one on the second floor together the two failed foot bridges come crashing down into the crowded Hall doens of people die instantly hundreds are injured or trapped under the rubble it will take 14 hours for The Rescuers to extricate the survivors from the heaps of concrete glass and steel at final count 114 are killed and 216 suffer serious injuries the investig ation showed that the designers had suspended the second floor walkway by tie rods 32 in diameter from the fourth floor walkway rather than from the ceiling that meant the fourth floor walkway bore the burden of its own weight the weight of the second floor walkway and the weight of all the people crossing the bridge the structure rested on three beams attached by the tie rods fixed by nuts the heavy load caused the nuts to sever the weld points disaster was inevitable and avoidable it was said during the trial that even freshman engineering student could have anticipated the disaster the victims and their families receive hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation the gross negligence in the design of the hant Regency hotel's walkways triggered wide ranging reforms to safety standards in the United States the hotel was rebuilt and the new Lobby walkway rests on concrete pillars the building is considered one of the safest in the country but the tragedy of July 1981 marked Kansas City and remains today the deadliest accident linked to the structural failure of building in the history of the United States drama in France in the Mont Blanc tunnel in 1999 in caun Austria in 2000 or in Switzerland in the sanar tunnel in 2001 as we have seen fires in closed spaces such as tunnels are devastating and one of them takes first place in our ranking it happened in 1995 in azerbijan in the country's capital Baku azerbijan is former Soviet Republic that became independent in 1991 rich in hydrocarbons the country is booming and and Ultra Modern buildings spring up like mushrooms today the Baku Metro has more than 30 km of line and is used by more than 200 million passengers per year but in the '90s terrible disaster struck an old Soviet era Metro train on October 28th 1995 around 6:00 p.m. in the middle of rush hour five crowded cars left uo's station toward Naran nanov station located nearly 2 km away after moving just 200 the subway stops and black blanket of toxic smoke invades the cars the electrical system that controls the doors fails to respond nearly thousand Travelers are trapped inside 80% of the materials are flammable most of them synthetic many passengers die within minutes poisoned by carbon monoxide the others managed to smash the windows and flee down the tunnel but many will be trapped amid the chaos for long time the press and the locals spread the rumor that bomb caused the damage but it's never proven the investigation concludes that the fire was started by simple short circuit in an electrical device located at the back of car 4 the tragedy left 289 dead and more than 500 injured it is the deadliest Metro accident in history three 3 days later the weight and the pain are agonizing our bridges our tunnels our dams they show to what extent we're capable of meeting the most ambitious construction challenges but the disasters in our ranking prove that lack of attention or seemingly trivial failure can have tragic consequences today new construction employs modern surveillance technology and is designed designed to meet increasingly stringent safety standards but the thousands of existing structures throughout the world demand constant monitoring and meticulous maintenance to keep them safe still no matter how hard we try or how Vigilant we are accidents will happen and materials will fail when disaster happens it becomes news around the globe whether whether it's the scale or the spectacle theis look at all the debris look at the financial cost or the lives lost these massive events fill mankind with Fascination and fear in this series we're looking at some of the biggest disasters to ever strike the planet Hurricane Katrina the monster storm downgraded during the night but she is still very dangerous storm over over the next hour we'll see the devastation rre by winds that exceed the speed of racing car huge storms that cover half continent and Cyclones that drop Year's worth of rain in single day strap yourselves in and hold on tight to something secure because today we're going to look at the top 10 hurricanes of all time hurricanes Cyclones typhoons these are just different names used around the world for the tropical storms that generate winds over 118 kmph these storms can only form over water that's 26° or warmer restricting them to the zone between the tropics and they unleash gargantuan amount of energy think this is very scary storm even for people who've been in lot of storms with winds that exceed 150 kmph and rainfall so heavy it can Deluge entire regions with as much as 1 meter per day the average hurricane releases enough energy to power the entire world for months these are some of the most intense destructive and deadly weather events on the planet to determine the number one storm event will look at all aspects of these Mega storms these include their size speed and power as well as the human and financial costs we'll also consider some of their surprising After Effects so as the storm clouds gather let's have look at number 10 on our list at number 10 we have cyclone that rocked the State of Florida in 1992 Hurricane Andrew like all tropical Cyclones Andrew began when the air over warm water Rose rapidly pushing cooler air downward and forming cyclonic winds then as the developing storm neared the warm Waters of the Bahamas it suddenly gained strength then in little over 24 hours it escalated to the strongest hurricane status Category 5 after leaving trail of Destruction across several islands in the Bahamas Andrew made landfall in South Florida where it would do the majority of its damage and is up to% Florida is used to hurricanes in fact 88% of all hurricanes that land in the US strike either Florida or Texas so what made Andrew stand apart from all the others one word Carnage it's about 8:30 and we're going to tell you that parts of Ocean Drive are basically impassible it's not good idea to get out here at this hour winds reached in incredible 280 kmph destroying everything in their path surgery for tomorrow there is now boil water order in its 12-hour journey across Florida and Louisiana Andrew ripped apart thousands of homes even the strongest buildings could not withstand the power of the cyclone and when the roof came even worse was in store for thousands of Floridians who lived in Mobile Homes mobile homes that were in Andrews path didn't stand chance reduced to splinters thousands of families lost everything it's estimated that 25,000 people permanently left Florida same the devastation the Twisted metes blown off homes hurricanes are indiscriminate though so nature itself was also punished in the Everglades 30,000 hectares of trees were filled making the landscape unrecognizable and changing an entire ecosystem for generation in Louisiana the Bayou suffered terribly nearly 200 million freshwater fish were killed and 15,000 Boats were destroyed some businesses would never recover you don't have to have your home destroyed to lose everything fortunately her hurricanes can't travel far once they move Inland they're powered by the warm water of the sea so once they lose access to their ocean fuel all they're doing is losing vast amounts of energy but that fact alone doesn't make Inland areas safe in deadly twist Andrew caused even more death and Devastation when it spawned more than 60 powerful tornadoes that tore through neighboring states Baptist hospital where the victims of Hurricane Andrew are just coming by the dozens while the during the time that we were there there were 50 people crowded into the emerc by the time Andrew and all its offshoots had exhausted their energy 65 people were dead at the time experts assessed the damage at $25 billion the equivalent of $55 billion today Hurricane Andrew is still considered one of the most destructive hurricanes in US history at number nine we have an entry that technically is not hurricane the great storm that caused Devastation in the UK and France in 1987 because of the warm water and steady winds required to form tropical storms it's very rare for them to ever make landfall as far far north as Europe but subtropical storms can bring hurricane force winds this storm even taught meteorologists thing or two despite what Michael fish of the BBC told the British public on the evening news earlier on today apparently woman rang the BBC and said she heard that there's hurricane on the way well if you're watching don't worry there isn't but having the truth was Hurricane strength forces were on their way and they were going to wreak havoc at least 17 people have been killed and hundreds injured by the worst storms to hit Britain in nearly 300 years when the storm hit northern France and Southern England in the early hours of October 16th it brought Winds of up to 130 kmph that was the strength of category 3 hurricane this kind of storm only strikes once every 200 years these once in every 200e winds were caused by an Undiscovered at the time phenomenon called sting jet sting jet happens when very cold air falls into storm front and adds power and on this occasion lots of power thousands of buildings were damaged ships were wrecked in harbors and more than 15 million trees were uprooted figure so high it shook confidence in the global Timber Market there was chaos everywhere you looked fortunately the storm hit in the middle of the night when most most people are safe at home as result the loss of life was relatively low only 18 killed in the UK and 22 in France but that was the only good timing the storm demonstrated Britain woke up to crippled transport Network Millions couldn't go to work and as result the London Stock Exchange closed early ordinarily that would be an inconvenience rather than problem but on this occasion the New York Stock Exchange was in the middle of an historic plummet London's inability to respond to Wall Street impacted markets across the globe London was unable to react until its Market reopened the following Monday that day became known as Black Monday over the days following the storm more than $4 trillion doll was wiped from exchanges around the world Millions were left bankrupt but experts say it's not going to be conf would that have happened if the great storm hadn't struck it's impossible to say but if we attri any of Black Monday to the great storm that would make it Far and Away the most costly storm in human history when hurricanes strike regions of poverty the danger they present is magnified and the damage multiplied that's what happened with number eight on our list Cyclone eii of 2019 most of the time the Cyclones that form over the Waters of the Indian Ocean approach the African coasts and then head West again but II in Orange changed course and turned around to hit the mainland for 2 weeks in March of 2019 the tropical storm that became cycl EDI terrorized mosm Beek Zimbabwe and Malawi in southeast Africa though its Winds of 190 kmph were much weaker than those of Hurricane Andrew in the BOS beak Port City of bua and across the region hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed and millions were left homeless there were more than thousand people killed many by flying debris from these ramshackle houses huge these figures could actually be far greater as they're impossible to verify the homes were handmade and the records were incomplete however the worst damage was caused by floodwaters Southern Africa was in drought and such dry ground is prone to flooding while hurricanes are out at sea they gather up huge volumes of water and sooner or later what goes up must come down the rain is making chisa's job that much harder the torrential rain from EDI caused major problems but it was the Cyclone storm surge that delivered Armageddon power of storm surge way back in 2016 getting out of the way was what exactly stor all tropical storms generate storm Sur es combination of the high winds pushing the surface water and low air pressure causing sea levels to rise this combination makes tidde significantly higher than normal as result water can sometimes surge hundreds of kilometers Inland this is what storm surge looks like it's fast moving fast rising flash flood in mosm beak storm surge of 4 1/2 hit region where much of the land is below sea level the floods were so vast they could be seen from space entire cities were completely cut off one of mosque's most important cities be was practically destroyed in its entirety country's infrastructure ripped up obliterated the country was brought to its knees people's lives pulled apart and destroyed tropical Cyclone Kenneth swept over the korus islands off Africa's East Coast on Wednesday unbelievably just 6 weeks later as survivors attempted to salvage what they could from their wrecked communities they were hit by Cyclone Kenneth the only reason it was less destructive was simply that there was little left to destroy heavy rains and powerful winds it tore down homes trees the impact of EDI was so widespread and devastating that year later more than 100,000 people were still homeless with 9 million having no access to clean water thousands of people have had little or no food medicine and other Essentials it's estimated that Cyclone EDI killed just under 2,000 people it made 3 million people homeless and caused over 2 billion doll in damage but that's $2 billion in country where the average wage is less than $10 per week comparatively the Damage Done was in the hundreds of billions of dollars as eai demonstrated it's not just the strength of the hurricane that quantifies its impact the relative strength of the Region's economy can be just as big factor right now it is the worst that have seen can hear the roofing of buildings here in San Juan coming off if hurricane is heading towards you your best advice is to get out of its way but our number seven Storm shows that's not always possible it's hurricane Maria that struck Puerto Rico in 2017 Puerto Rico is small densely populated American territory on the edge of the Caribbean and right in the middle of hurricane Hotpot most of the time the Island's diminutive size Works in its favor and it only suffers glancing blows every 6 or seven years years but when you live in the path of hurricanes sooner or later your luck is going to run out and in September 2017 Lady Luck turned against Puerto Rico in big way hurricane strength is measured from categories 1 to five on the seir Simpson scale powerful hurricane Maria making landfall right now on Puerto Rico with one being fairly weak Winds of 63 kmph and any winds over 251 kmph labeled as Category 5 winds can get lot faster than that but the scale stops at five because the fact is once you're over that threshold the damage is comprehensive two weeks earlier Puerto Rico had just been lashed by the tail of category 5 hurricane named Irma then Maria came and the island was devastated by another category 5 that landed with full force and rre Havoc the eye of the storm famed for its Eerie calm but surrounded by the most power powerful winds located in the eye wall was directly over land for the duration of Maria's passage early on during what's called an eyewall renewal cycle the eye tripled in size making the storm much more powerful packing intensified winds across diameter of more than 80 km Puerto Rico is only 56 km wide as Maria cut swath from one end of the island to the other it passed over mountains these served to slow the winds down but squeezed ever more rainfall from the storm some areas received as much as meter of rain in 24 hours that's about 1 million tons of water for every square mile that's the equivalent of an Olympic siiz swimming pool being emptied onto an area the size of New York Central Park every 90 seconds for an entire day all day army trucks went back and forth through the flood waters bringing out people who' spent terrifying 24 hours first in the storm then in the floods and then waiting for help to come streams were instantly transformed into rivers and what were once roads and town squares quickly became Lakes Maria's Advance was slowed by the mountains which caused the storm to linger over the island and batter its communities with continued wind and rainfall by the time the storm had moved on nearly every one of the 3.4 million residents felt its impact and this is why in this neighborhood near the capital everything is gone the neighboring island of the Dominican Republic declared that they had lost everything money could buy in fact every house on the island was damaged and all their crops destroyed the damage was assessed at over twice as much as the tiny nation's entire GDP it forced them to change the entire basis of their economy the entire country has been reduced to debris field Puerto Rico suffered thanks to its dramatically higher and more densely packed population over 3,000 were killed and it was many months before electricity and Communications were fully restored the damage was put conservatively at 90 billion people looking for help to grateful to complain for Puerto Ricans and the islands around them those few days with Maria likely determined their fortunes for decades to come to get an idea of what the future might hold for Puerto Rico we need only look at the countries of Honduras and Nicaragua who were hit by our number six storm in 1998 hurricane NCH Central America is one of the world's most impoverished regions and Honduras one of its poorest countries if it was subjected to direct hit by hurricane it was always going to be bad but hurricane Mitch was catastrophic formed in the heart of the Caribbean Mitch is monster while approaching Central America it had an ie 30 km in diameter and was more than 80 km wide it was category 5 storm with winds topping out at 300 km per hour clearly wherever this superstorm made landfall serious trouble would follow then suddenly it slowed down by the time Mitch hit Honduras its winds had slowed to Category 2 status and it seemed like disaster might be averted but that was before the rain started as the storm built to vast size and power over the Caribbean Sea it engulfed billions of gallons of sea water as it slowed down it could no longer hold the water the rain that followed was inevitable the Deluge lasted for three full days over those 3 days the highest official measure of rain in some regions was reported to be 2 MERS of rain per day no place on Earth could withstand such cataclysm that's what faced the inhabitants of Honduras and neighboring Nicaragua and of course there is the overriding need for food and for medicine without it these people will not be able to help themselves entire communities were destroyed within hours from mudslides and floods with water 12 deep Nationwide Honduras lost 75% both of its Transportation Network and all its crops and rendered quarter of its population homeless 2 million people made destitute because of Raines where entire homes and families are no more president Flores who had been over overseeing growing economy claimed that this single storm had cost his country 50 years of progress hurricanes can simultaneously wipe away history and devastate the future despite the storm's relatively weak wind speeds over 11,000 people in Honduras and Nicaragua were killed and as many were listed as missing hurricane Mitch became the deadliest Atlantic hurricane in over 200 years the damage to property and infrastructure ran to the billions but when nation's entire economy is pulverized by an event like this it's impossible to put true figure on The Economic Consequences 25 years later those countries are still suffering the after effects of Mitch at number five we're going to see what happens when hurricane strikes the world's richest city Hurricane Sandy which hit Cuba Haiti and the USA in 2012 there is something potentially scary brewing in the Atlantic ocean conditions this year are similar to 1991 the year of the perfect storm modern satellite imagery and modeling technology allows meteorology ol to more accurately predict which storms are likely to become hurricanes and predict the paths they're likely to take however these Cyclones can still offer few unpredictable surprises and Sandy had plenty that's not very good direction it's very unusual one we watch it we watch it we watch it we watch it okay great to have you with us tonight Sam thank you in October of 2012 it was category three hurricane that very quickly made landfall in Cuba Haiti and Jamaica Sandy caused widespread damage across these islands destroying populated areas and leaving upwards of 200,000 homeless but amazingly only caused 60 deaths after its journey across those islands Sandy appeared to be petering out was on course to be just another fairly standard Atlantic hurricane but sy's trajectory took it to the United States and what happened next made it historical and that's when things could definitely get little bit tricky thank to unusually warm Waters along the eastern coast of the US Sandy regained her strength and hurricane status deluging every Coastal State all the way up to the Canadian border the Mid-Atlantic region is bracing for Sandy slow moving monster of unprecedented size and scope this is rare phenomenon but not unheard of continue to intensify however when it hit the Northeast USA it combined with cold air storm coming down from the north to form what was called at the time Franken storm next splashing over the seaw walls at the tip of lower Manhattan it consisted of snow Wind and Rain statistically Sandy is the largest storm ever recorded it had gale force winds across 1600 km diameter the storm size would have covered all of Central Europe from Edinburgh to marsai and Barcelona to Berlin storm with such power and fury could only be fatal when Sandy made landfall on the coast of New Jersey it had the perfect conditions for an equally monstrous storm surge landfall occurred at night during the high tide and during full moon which makes it the highest of high tides it had never been this high before the storm surge was measured at 5 and carried remarkable 800 km Inland down here it is almost completely dark the storm was so powerful that the residents of New York City the city that never sleeps could only hunker down for nap but downtown it's clear the Big Apple took big hit Lower Manhattan normally vibrant and bustling now looking eerily like something out of disaster movie hoping to keep people safe the city shut down mass transit the subway and other transport networks were shut down for days vanishingly rare occurrence for system that usually runs 24/7 all year round large areas of Manhattan were flooded Sandy was truly cataclysmic for the city across the Eastern USA 233 people died 650,000 homes were destroyed and 8 million people were left without power Sandy caused $70 billion in property damage the cost to the economy measured in billions per day was never calculated for the scale of Destruction the loss of life was relatively low had this monster storm turned left instead of right hitting the poorest Central American countries the death toll would have been unimaginable Cyclone recording keeping started in 957 ad since then over 12,000 Cyclone syns have been recorded most of those didn't make this list but there are few notable storms that came close these are the record Breakers Cyclone Olivia that hit Western Australia Australia in 1996 has the fastest recorded wind gusts reaching an incredible 420 kmph which is faster than the speed of an F1 Indie Car in 2013 super typhoon hyan devastated the Philippines with winds estimated at 315 km per hour it is considered to be one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded in the region on the islands nothing could withstand its power and fury Cyclone hin submerged Reunion Island in 1980 over two we period it dropped 6 of rain which was more than Maria Mitch and Nina combined and last in 1994 hurricane JN set the record for being both the longest lasting and the most traveled John traveled from Africa to Central America crossed over into the Pacific and then traveled far enough West to be classified as typhoon hurricane John lasted for an incredible 31 days and traveled 13,000 km all of it at Sea these are terrifying statistics but the scariest part is that all these records will almost certainly be broken it's not good idea to get out here at this hour so far the damage and destruction we've seen has been largely unavoidable but in some storms there are human factors that contribute to the catastrophe that was the case with our number four typhoon Nina in China Nina struck in the middle of the 1975 storm season it had already caused considerable damage in Taiwan before making landfall again in southern China China is used to the sort of winds that come with typhoons Nina's winds were relatively weak clocking speeds of just 180 kmph the province of Hanan was totally devastated on day one Nina dropped one meter of rain on China that's more rain than country like the UK expects to see in full year the Deluge was enough to cause cataclysmic flooding and landslides Hanan province has hundreds of dams that were built to provide electricity to the region they were built to rigorous standards and are expected to withstand the kind of rainfall that only happens once every Thousand Years those standards were nowhere near what they were being exposed to under the incredible extra weight of all that extra water 62 of the region dams collapsed releasing massive walls of water that didn't simply flood they wiped towns and Villages off the map 12,000 Square km of land an area the size of Hawaii was inundated with water more than 30 cities were completely flooded and cut off from the rest of the world the official death toll from typhoon Nina stands at 240,000 though some estimates put the figure over million the secrecy of the Chinese State likely means we'll never know the true figure damage costs for the destruction would venture into the tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars for truly industrialized country it was an unparalleled level of Devastation the flooding and deaths were unavoidable given the historic rainfall however if the dams had not been there in the first place the flooding would have been more catastrophic China's Engineers took every precaution but steel and concrete don't stand chance when confronted by the full brutal power of nature if typhoon Nina showed unavoidable human failures our number three demonstrates the damage that sheer negligence can cause it's Cyclone narus from 2008 Asia is the real hot bed for cyclonic activity the warm Waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the near year round warm air means that these areas are on constant alert for the next typhoon or Cyclone at least most countries are when Cyclone narus formed in the Indian Ocean in April 2008 right at the very start of the region storm season Indian authorities warned all their neighbors to pay close attention most countries did Indian fishermen mored their boats Bangladeshi rice Farmers hurriedly harvested for fear of food shortages however myanmar's military rulers did nothing and thousands of their citizens would pay the price as with so many other Cyclones it wasn't the intensity of the winds that caused the biggest problems the winds peaked at 215 kmph but number of factors combined to make this one of the deadliest Cyclones on record on the 2 of May nargas made landfall near enough to the iraa Delta to cause massive storm surge over 5 High the water raced up and over the densely populated Riverbanks and islands and traveled 50 km up River the damage was cataclysmic 95% of all buildings in the area were destroyed and 990,000 people were killed the United Nations says it has made formal offer to send an assistance but the ruling military junter has not responded additionally 50,000 people from the area were declared Miss and never found once the number of dead or missing reached 140,000 people the authorities allegedly stopped counting with so many dead and millions more made homeless the Need For assistance was Paramount we provide potential for tremendous capability we stood ready we were well trained we were well briefed and ready to ex at moment's notice but the isolated hun resisted almost all outside offers of help Channel 4 News has obtained these new images of the desperation in laputa one of the most devastated areas of the Delta an already Bleak situation was becoming worse as overrun sewage systems burst and destroyed all the crops on the Delta already Without Shelter the survivors were now without food or clean water after two long weeks myanmar's leaders finally allowed foreign assistant to enter the country only to be thwarted by massive earthquake in the southern area of China called sishan the Quake destroyed much of the area's roads and delayed valuable help even further fortunately the scourge of diseases didn't reach the population as International organizations had feared the strength of the storm surge and the poverty of the region meant that death and destruction on large scale was almost inevitable but it's impossible to say how many lives might have been saved had the Hun given their people ample warning and allowed foreign aid to immediately help today the official death toll of 138,000 makes makes it one of the deadliest Cyclones on record but there can be no doubt that the true figure is far higher that was just the point at which they stopped counting some estimate the figure to be closer to 300,000 Cyclones rarely need help from people to wreak havoc sadly this was an example of people making bad situation worse even the richest countries on Earth can take Nature's Fury and make it worse we present number two on our list from 2005 Hurricane Katrina water's coming in the room through the air conditioned vent Katrina was the most famous and most filmed hurricane of all time Tim Reed and myself we in golf court ironically it wasn't the most powerful most destructive or most deadly hurricane to ever strike the United States Katrina looked like tropical storm that was fizzling out as it approached the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005 then favorable conditions saw it rapidly gain strength until it became category 5 storm with wind speeds of 280 kmph Katrina suddenly and unexpectedly turned and headed towards the USA's GF Coast though the hurricane was downgraded to category 3 the authorities were quick to act every person is hereby order to immediately Evacuate the City of New Orleans rarely seen mandatory evacuation order was issued in New Orleans with those who chose to remain being warned to write their names and Social Security numbers on their thigh in permanent markers so authorities could identify their bodies wish had better news but we are facing storm that many Fear And even though they were warned and knew what was coming the results were still shocking we got car that's getting ready to come right in the Lobby now New Orleans was built 300 years ago on natural bowl with much of the area sitting below sea level to prevent flooding in the 1960s the US Army Engineers constructed series of levies that would control the water they should could have been built to depth of 12 but in an attempt to save money they were built to only depth of 6 instead of 12 their failure was inevitable and when faced with Katrina's storm surge they failed quickly in matter of hours 80% of New Orleans ended up under as much as 3 of water most had heeded the warning to flee some had chosen not to evacuate and others had been unable to we learned that completely evacuating large city is Monumental challenge tens of thousands were left stranded in flooded and abandoned city the media broadcast live coverage to the world of the struggles of survivors bringing the power of hurricanes into Stark Focus this was storm strong enough to bring superpower country to its knees survivors huddled on whatever Higher Ground they could find some used overpasses some used rooftops and thousands gathered in the city's Superdome football stadium which became hell on Earth they've taken hours after hours to get here we've been waiting hours it's stanking out here it's just disgusting and frustrating and we we are human beings and they're treating us like we're criminals violence erupted and there wasn't enough security to stop it we had rape victims we had assault victims it's just hard for me to believe that this is America all right so people here feeling scared about what this night's going to bring and feeling neglected by their government officials the rescue effort for the desperate began in Earnest in truth it was part rescue and part salvage Rescuers used boats to go from door to door in the submerged wards that house the largely poor and black population of the city all right the walls of the searched houses would be marked with details of who had searched them and when and if bodies or survivors were found though some mistakes were made many of these markings remain to this day stark reminder of one of the darkest points in recent American history the final death toll was just over 1800 tragedy of that is surpassed by the fact that most of the deaths were avoidable the cost however was Monumental the money for Relief and Recovery that is not yet complete was put in excess of $150 billion this was the damage caused by category 3 hurricane ironically had Katrina maintain its Category 5 status and 2 80 km perh winds the damage could have been much worse the aftermath of Katrina will be felt across Louisiana for decades to come many left New Orleans never to return When certain neighborhoods were rezoned and gentrified it forced the former residents who were poor to have to relocate Katrina is evidence of how modern world circumstances can combine to create Monumental disaster if the hurricane hit hadn't been direct the levies may not have been broken if in the 1960s the levies had been properly built at cost of millions they would likely have held and not led to damage that cost billions wind despite not being one of the fastest biggest or deadliest hurricanes Katrina is worthy of its place in our top 10 Katrina demonstrated that even in the 21st century one of these storms can one of the most powerful countries on the planet and almost totally destroy modern city it's not good idea to get out here at this hour at number one we have cyclone that combines all the ingredients we've seen across the rest of the top 10 it was perfect storm that led to one of the greatest human disasters of the modern world it's the Bola Cyclone of 1970 Bola was born in the North Indian Ocean and fluctuated between being category 1 and Category 3 storm as it moved its way through the Bay of Bengal and up towards Bangladesh that area was called East Pakistan the storm was strong but by no means the most powerful Cyclone of the Year authorities were able to track it and had good idea of where it was going to make landfall but the government had closed the radio warning system which meant that millions of people would get no warning Bola made landfall close to the Ganges Delta after Sunset around high tide putting it in the worst possible place and at the worst possible time the densely populated low-lying islands of the Delta were filled with handil built shelters comprised of bamboo palm frons and Sheet Metal the dwellings offered no resistance to massive 6m surges wall of water the height of twostory house arrived without any warning and in the dark it would have been as terrifying as it was remorseless entire Islands were wiped clean of crops livestock and houses tens of thousands of people were washed out to seea never to be found across the region everything was battered by strong winds accompanied by flooding and mudslides those who survived the initial Onslaught were left in darkness not knowing what had just happened and unable to seek or help other survivors worse was still to come as the bloated corpses of tens of thousands of victims and farm animals polluted the water supply chalera and typhoid spread causing even more death the diet of those in the area was almost exclusively rice and fish but the Cyclone had washed away almost all of the seasonal rice crop and 60% of the fishing fleet had been destroyed between the initial impact and the diseases and hardship that followed it's estimated that half million people died and another 50 million were displaced those numbers are hard to comprehend even for an area used to devastating floods and Powerful Cyclones the scale of Bola was unprecedented some estimates say 85% of homes in the area were badly damaged or destroyed if the storm had just hit 100 km further south the loss of life would have been dramatically less and if it had struck during the day the population might have had chance the combination was fatal measuring only for its wind speed of 200 kmph Bola is one of the less powerful Cyclones on this list it was less than half the size of Sandy its rainfall was dramatically lower than Nina Maria or Mitch but as result of the unique circumstances and gigantic storm surge the death toll could be equal to the combined death toll of the other nine storms on the list never before or since have we seen the circumstances of timing location human error and poverty come together in such way that created such total devastation hopefully we never will again it's about 8:30 and we're going to tell you that parts of Ocean Drive are basically impassible it's not huge lights that have tumbled down on most of us are fortunate enough to have never encountered the formidable power of these tropical Cyclones but with sea temperatures Rising the world over the conditions that seed them are improving all the time fising flood warmer Seas mean that we're seeing longer storm season thus stronger Cyclones that stay strong longer are being produced more storms means more time over land and more destruction the 10 hurricanes we've seen here tonight could just be the beginning when disaster happens it becomes news around the globe whether it's the scale or the spectacle look at the debris look at all the debris look at all the debris in the air the financial cost or the lives lost these massive events fill mankind with Fascination and fear in this series we're looking at some of the biggest dis fasters to ever strike the planet get down duck down duck down the level of the destruction here shows just how much needs to be done to help rebuild these communities for the next hour we're going to look at what happens when the very ground we stand on crumbles beneath our feet we'll witness the awesome power that can bring concrete and steel crashing to the ground tear Bridges apart as if they were cardboard and end hundreds of thousands of lives in moments this this is going to be seismic today we're looking at the top 10 earthquakes of all time the Earth is covered by 20 Rocky tectonic plates between 50 and 200 km thick they sit on the Earth's mantle layer of semi molten magma and are in constant slow motion beneath the mantle are the planet's outer core and inner core some of these gigantic plates are moving steadily away from each other creating chasms like the Mariana Trench in the Pacific or the silver fissure in Iceland other plates slide under each other and overlap they can give birth to mountain ranges like the Himalayas the place where two plates meet is called fault line at this intersection trillions of tons of rock have been pressing on trillions of tons of other Rock for millions of years eventually the pressure becomes unbearable and is released when two plates suddenly slip or push past each other and that's called an earthquake the power they unleash is the power of the Earth itself it can be cataclysmic at number 10 in our ranking we go to ismet Turkey where we see how the timing of quake can be just as important as its power on August 17th at 3:00 a.m. the Eurasian and Anatolian plates give way to pressure and slipped tearing nearly 160 km strip along the north analan fault line for 37 seconds it releases the energy equivalent of th hirosima bombs sending out seismic waves that cause the ground to Ripple crumble buckle and shake the city isn't ready there is lot of De GJ was very heavily damaged theault line went right through the town there's lot of damage as the powerful shocks rattle the buildings of the city most can't withstand the punishment many simply collap in barely minute the city descends into chaos the earthquake struck in the middle of the night while residents were sleeping no alert message was sent in an instant 20,000 buildings were damaged and 120,000 others were almost completely destroyed 7 17,000 inhabitants lose their lives the cities of Guk Dura Derica and sukaria were also partly destroyed as well as large part of the capital Istanbul in less than minute tranquil night had turned into Terror that's the reality of an earthquake Armageddon delivered from below the first assessment is terrible but the nightmare is far from over fire breaks out in the largest refinery in the country located near the epicenter of the earthquake while rescue teams are frantically looking for survivors hundreds of firefighters race to fight the fire which threatens to ignite millions of liters of oil putting even more lives in Jeopardy to avoid new disaster The Rescuers are forced to abandon their efforts and Evacuate the area the earthquake victims they cannot rescue will be left to perish under the rubble of their homes damage to roads and bridges compound The Misery by making rescue attempts even more difficult but worse is to come on August 19th two new Tremors hit the area these are aftershocks caused by pressure redistribution within the fault they create earthquakes less strong than the first but powerful enough to destroy what remains demolishing many badly damaged buildings and claiming more casualties as the last survivors get extracted from the ruins of their homes the country begins to mourn its dead like the vast majority of people who were still underneath Rubble by this morning the International Rescue Team and the heavy lifting equipment has simply arrived too late and it's left survivors with number of questions but lot fewer answers the tragedy of the ismet Quake raised many questions since the city was built near known fault line the Turkish government had an obligation to assure that the city's buildings met Quake proofing standards but the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake left no room for doubt these regulations were neither adhered to by the the builders nor enforced by the authorities the precise location and scale of this earthquake was predicted over year ago the precise time couldn't be known but they should have been prepared when the truth comes out the authorities are taken to task by the public and while many prosecutions for this negligence are sought few are convicted since then throughout the region construction standards for new buildings have been tightened will they manage to resist the power of new earthquake it will take another Quake to say for sure in the meantime the people of ismet will forever remember the images of the terrible earthquake of August 17th 1999 for the Ninth Place on our list of the worst earthquakes on the planet we head to Southeast Asia where off the Indonesian island of Sumatra the Sumatra Andaman earthquake struck in 2004 each year the Earth sees on average more than million earthquakes fortunately the vast majority of them are too weak to be felt or they occur in remote and uninhabited areas and cause no real damage and since 2third of the planet is covered in water great number of earthquakes occur in the ocean most of the time they don't amount to anything but on December 26th 2004 an underwater earthquake had dramatic repercussions little before 8:00 a.m. 160 km off the Indonesian island of Sumatra part of the 1600 km wide Indian tectonic plate slipped under the Burmese tectonic plate raising it by 5 and displacing billions of tons of water that movement triggered devastating tsunami 20 minutes after the earthquake wave 30 High the size of nine-story building reaches the shores of Sumatra taking residents and tourists completely by surprise the tragedy claims more than 100,000 victims then after passing over Sumatra the wave continues its destructive course that is very bad down rooms got it the final toll of the tsunami would rise to more than 220,000 dead in radius of more than 8,000 km it was disaster of horrific scale triggered by an invisible earthquake whose seismic waves were born in the depths of the ocean the RoR scale is still commonly referred to today but was replaced in the 1970s by the moment magnitude scale which measures the strength of seismic energy released by Quakes the earthquake that hit ismet in 1999 was magnitude 7.8 the underwater Quake that occurred off Sumatra measured measured whopping magnitude 9.3 the difference between 7.8 and 9.3 is bigger than it first seems this measurement scale is logarithmic magnitude 9.3 earthquake is more than 30 times more powerful and releases more than 170 times more energy than magnitude 7.8 earthquake the Sumatra earthquake released the equivalent of 38,000 hirosima bombs into the ocean colossal amount of energy such formidable earthquakes can have powerful repercussions around the globe and literally move the Earth they can even temporarily alter the shape of the planet including disrupting its rotation which can slightly shorten the length of day while it's the Indonesian tsunami that made big headlines in 2004 the earthquake that triggered it also caused damage before the deadly wave erased everything it is estimated that hundreds of buildings collapsed from the first Tremors of the quake in fact thousands of people likely died before the tsunami even arrived the earthquake impacted the entire region the altitude of the Andaman and nikobar Islands dropped by 1 meter placing some of the land below sea level the coasts of IND India were also extremely affected the level of the destruction here in just this one corner of India's eastern coast shows just how much needs to be done to help rebuild these communities for these people have lost everything their homes their livelihoods and their families the Sumatra Andaman earthquake is one of the best and worst examples of what an earthquake of that magnitude can unleash Indonesia will bear the scars of the event forever for number eight in our ranking we go from one of the biggest Quakes to one of the costliest the great Hani waji earthquake that hit the city of KOB in 1995 Japan is located on what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire the area is characterized by its seismic activity one of the most intense in the world the residents of coob have firsthand experience the city was hit on January 17th 1995 at 5:46 a.m. by jolt lasting about 20 seconds the earthquake had magnitude between 6.9 and 7 .3 it completely ravaged the city geology is partly to blame for the level of Destruction the hypo center of the Quake its Subterranean point of origin was only 20 km from the densely populated city of coob second it was so-called shallow earthquake with its hypocenter less than 24 km underground shallow Quakes are more destructive because seismic waves retain all their energy when they reach the surface and minor fault lines with the city further helped transmit the waves in just 20 seconds nearly 400,000 buildings were damaged more than 150,000 collapsed and 80% of the port was destroyed Railway roads drinking water supply systems electrical networks everything was destroyed in the city of 11 million people immediately after the earthquake more than 300 fires broke out in the city the result 6,000 dead and more than 40,000 injured at the end of the day half the city had been ravaged given its geographical situation the city of coob had been living with the risk of being hit by an earthquake for long time in 1981 building standards had already been tightened and many of those newer buildings fared well but anything built before that date failed in the face of the violence of the Tremors for several days dozens of aftershocks continued to Rattle the region sowing Terror among the survivors of the disaster when the earth finally stopped shaking the city could begin its difficult work of mourning and rebuilding in makeshift Church they prayed from one young man loving touch as he and his friends remembered his 20-year-old fiance at the scene survivors frantically tried to salvage what they could from the rubble that was their home but others could only mourn the death of their love loved ones at the time the damage was estimated at $14 billion it was major disaster which still haunts the people of coob and all of Japan our number seven earthquake takes us to the Himalayas and more precisely Kashmir to region located near Islamabad the Pakistani Capital where terrible earthquake struck in 2005 Kashmir sits on the border between Pakistan and India the place has been territory of conflict between those two Nations since the creation of their Border in 1947 the giant mountains of the Himalayas bear Testament to the planetary forces at play in the area as the Indian subcontinent drifts northwards its tectonic plate is forcing its way under the Eurasian plate raising whole Mountains from beneath the Earth usually it goes smoothly but it was violent shift in this movement that triggered the Quake at 85 on the morning of October 8th the timing could not have been worse this was another shallow Quake experts say it may have been as little as 3,000 from the surface and with the epicenter just 10 kilometers from the city of muzafarabad with its population of 150,000 the destruction was catastrophic in less than minute more than 3/4 of million buildings were reduced to Rubble 177,000 of these were school buildings right at the start of the school day the death told tragically includes 19,000 children who never made it home all around the numbers are heartbreaking at least 75,000 dead 40,000 or more injured just to start because the Quake also destroyed almost all the hospitals there was nowhere for the injured to receive treatment leaving more to die only 10% of the city of bolot was left standing three and half million people and half million farm animals were left Without Shelter at the start of brutal Himalayan winter and with roads and bridges destroyed assistance became practically impossible whole towns remained cut off four months on the merali scale which measures the intensity of an earthquake based on the damage it causes the 2005 quake in Kashmir ranked level 11 out of possible 12 level 11 denotes an extreme level of Destruction level 12 means total Destruction the type of soil in the area played role in the extent of the damage during an earthquake loose or Sandy ground undergoes the phenomenon known as liquefaction the shaking solid land begins to behave like liquid that's what happened in Kashmir the earthquake caused the ground to melt away under the buildings entire Hills collapsed in on themselves triggering massive landslides that flowed like water entire Villages and their residents were swallowed by the debris for the struggling survivors the nightmare is far from over with so much of the region flattened the many people left homeless by the Quake have no choice but to band together in makeshift camps at the start of cold winter and lacking resources in sanitation health problems are inevitable respiratory diseases scabies and diarrhea spread in the camps increasing the number of victims jolted into new reality but out of the tragedy comes much needed glimmer of hope after six Decades of bitter conflict the Indian and Pakistani authorities put aside their hostilities and open five border crossing points to provide Aid to the victims aside from serving an immediate need to the survivors the truce offers everyone hope that long-term peace and reconstruction are possible that single minute when the earth shook in 2005 changed the destiny of Kashmir and its people collapsing buildings are one of the biggest causes of death in major Quakes claiming around 10,000 lives each year buildings are mainly designed to resist vertical pressures basically staying upright but during an earthquake they get subjected to extremely violent horizontal forces which are much more difficult to contend with Architects and Engineers have developed Technologies to dampen many of these horizontal forces some buildings are constructed on flexible foundations that move with the swaying ground or they utilize shock absorbers that cushion the jolts other buildings have even been equipped with gigantic pendulums to counterbalance the movements of the destructive seismic waves seismic proof construction is an Ever evolving field foundations that resist ground movements more flexible materials that can deform during an earthquake and other Innovations are being implemented with single objective to ensure that buildings in seismic zones do not Shake themselves to death in the event of major earthquake these ingenious new construction techniques represent the only hope of saving lives now let's continue are ranking of the 10 most notable earthquakes coming in at 6 is one of the most famous earthquakes which happened along one of the most notorious fault lines we head to San Francisco USA and the Quake of 1906 California's Famous San Andreas fault runs the entire length of the state this is the place where the locals grimly predict the famous big one the earthquake that will one day destroy Los Angeles and San Francisco and plunge chunk of California into the Pacific Ocean the students in Miss laris's class dropped to the ground and got under their desks for the big one if this earthquake would have happened in reality there would have been buildings coming down we know that there would be no water now in certain areas seismologists think there's good chance that an earthquake with magn magnitude 7.5 or greater will strike this part of the state within the next years think would have been very prepared with all the videos that we've seen today we're ready for that definitely to find out what this famous big one might look like let's go back to the year 1906 at that time San Francisco was prosperous Metropolis of 400,000 inhabitants the city was created during the gold rush of the 1840s in just few decades it had become an important economic and Cultural Center but on the 18th of April 1906 at 5:12 a.m. the inhabitants of San Francisco are brutally awakened by powerful Tremors less than minute later magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits the city the shaking lasts for about minute that's all the time it takes to devastate San Francisco but the worst is yet to come the earthquake ruptures gas and water pipes throughout the crumbled City within minutes fires break out everywhere without access to water firefight Fighters can only stand by powerless Against The Inferno for 4 days the city is engulfed in flames the toll of the disaster was terrible more than 80% of San Francisco was devastated 3,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands were homeless but despite the tragedy the inhabitants somehow maintained hope they were convinced that one day San Francisco would rise from its ashes and time has proven them right since then California has been shaken several times many of these Quakes have caused billions of dollars in damage and created hundreds of victims but none have matched the power of that devastating 1906 earthquake that struck San Francisco at least not yet let's now have look at the earthquake that takes fifth place in our ranking we head to China where quake rocked Sichuan province in 2008 China is riddled with fault lines within its territory Beijing alone sits on 15 of them but because most of this massive country sits on the Eurasian plate most of these Faults Are minor that doesn't mean they're never active in fact the country experiences on average more than 50 significant Tremors per year when major earthquake strikes one of China's densely populated regions the results can be horrendous that's precisely what happened on May 12th 2008 at 2:28 p.m. the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate near duu Jong Yen city in Sichuan province with population of more than 600,000 the Collision triggers magnitude 7.9 earthquake that shakes the Earth for two agonizing minutes this is very long earthquake and because the center is only 20 km deep it transmits tremendous energy the power of the tremors are felt in the city of Shanghai more than 1600 km east of the epicenter geologically this was massive Collision of tectonic plates with astonishing repercussions in some areas the ground heaves up over 9 and Witnesses describe seeing mountain explode the consequences for people living and working in the area are cataclysmic 80% of the buildings in Sichuan Province are raised more than 12 million animals are killed 5 million houses are completely destroyed and nearly 6 million houses seriously damaged the human toll is catastrophic tens of thousands of people lose their lives nearly 400,000 are injured and nearly 10 million are left homeless the aftermath of the earthquake brings even more chaos and destruction to the suffering survivors liquefaction triggers nearly 200,000 landslides and buries thousand thousand of additional houses some landslides block waterways and create natural dams it's frequent phenomenon after earthquakes producing what are known as Quake Lakes more than 800 of them form in the minutes following the earthquake many don't last long under the weight of the water some of these dams burst and as the lake suddenly empty they send torrents of water over populated areas smashing into the damaged properties the post Quake landslides and flooding kill an additional 30,000 people the scenes of desperation and Devastation cover 110,000 Square km an area almost as big as England the danger doesn't Abate aftershocks continue for several months as Chinese authorities battled to drain Quake Lakes clear debris and rehouse more people than the population of Sweden the challenge they face is monumental and rebuilding will take time the 2008 siuan earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters of the 21st century the official death toll of 90,000 is believed by many to be too low for the horrific scenes they witnessed many of the deaths could have been avoided by better construction methods just few hundred miles from the epicenter of the devastating Sichuan Quake is the site of the deadliest earthquake in history at number four it's the Jing earthquake that struck the whei river valley in jisi province in 1556 Jing ruled as the Ming Dynasty emperor of China at the time of the tragedy and his name will forever be associated with one of the greatest natural disasters of all time the earthquake was estimated at magnitude between 8 and 8.3 it was triggered on January 23rd 1556 in Janes Province at at that time several cities flourished along the river all of them would be completely destroyed the way River Valley was surrounded by the cities of huian Wayan and huayan in huian every building was reduced to Rubble the earthquake demolished an area of more than 1500 square kilm twice the size of New York City more than 1 and half million people lived in the area only half survived many of the people in the cities were killed by Falling masonry and the collapsing heavy stone walls of their homes this tragedy was so significant that it almost immediately inspired change in building methods and materials across China once authorities recognized the danger of rock and stone construction they made the switch to Wood and bamboo more lightweight and more flexible on shaking ground and easier to rebuild this was change that would last for centuries most of the casualties weren't from the cities but from among the millions who lived on the nearby loose Plateau loose silty clay-like soil had been deposited over Millennia and the residents had used it to construct their homes called yadong on the high Cliffs surrounding the plateau the clay homes didn't stand chance against an earthquake with the strength of thousand atomic bombs all around as the houses collapsed on their inhabitants Landslide swept still more off the sides of the cliffs the area was completely wiped out in minutes the consequences of this earthquake have remained in the memory of the Chinese people the total number of deaths is estimated at 830,000 that would be as if the entire population of the city of San Francisco had been decimated in single night with such toll the 1556 earthquake is the most gruesome in all of history Chile was racked by series of quakes that took countless lives left over million homeless and sent murderous tidal waves racing across the Pacific we've seen some incredibly powerful earthquakes so far but the strongest ever recorded doesn't even make our top 10 before we continue our countdown we'll head to Valdivia Chile Where the most powerful Quake ever recorded struck on May 22nd 1960 before this fateful day and in less than 48 hours Chile had suffered three successive earthquakes of magnitude 7.1 7.8 and 8.1 Tremors of terrible violence which ominously announced an even more powerful event to come its magnitude would be 9.5 twice as strong as the earthquake that caused the Indonesian tsunami of 2004 and 250 times more powerful than the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 half the houses in the city of Valdivia would collapse with the epicenter located just 160 km from the coast giant tsunamis swept the Chilean coasts with waves 25 high but luckily this Mega earthquake hit near sparsely populated area of Chile the final will report fewer than 1500 dead if the Valdivia earthquake went down in history for its record magnitude the top three earthquakes you're about to witness in our countdown earned their place for the levels of Devastation they caused getting back to our ranking of the 10 worst earthquakes that have left their mark on the planet at third place we head to the Caribbean island of Haiti Haiti is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world the small island in the Caribbean packs 11 million people onto just 26,000 Square km most of the residents live in abject poverty they've survived colonialism political oppression and brutal dictatorships they're regularly lashed by Atlantic hurricanes that cause flooding death and disease with these strikes against them the last thing they need is an earthquake but on January 12th 2010 at 4:53 p.m. the island is hit by magnitude 7 earthquake triggered inside small fault beneath the town of leoon the earthquake rattles the Caribbean the impact across the island is brutal many Haitian buildings are very old or poorly constructed in the city of logon 90% of its buildings collapse in an instant Port of pron the capital fares better with some of the Island's best constructed buildings but still takes considerable damage about 250,000 homes are shattered in the 30 seconds of the quake two days after the tragedy Haiti lies in Ruins its infrastructure destroyed communication is completely interrupted and little can be done to help the rescue and Recovery effort leaving victims to die in the rubble for how much longer is it practical to be searching for people who are still alive we're pushing the envelope now probably another day or two and then it's going to start to look go downhill from there but you know we did find some survivors yesterday we pulled out couple of today but each day it grows Slimmer and Slimmer most hospitals are rendered unusable leaving many injured survivors to succumb to their wounds morgs are full and bodies start piling up in the streets in the weeks that follow the country plunges into chaos faced with lack of of water and food looting begins and Anarchy grips the desperate streets of Haiti security forces are overwhelmed worse thousands of prisoners escape from the prisons destroyed during the earthquake and in the midst of the riots children who have become orphans must learn on their own to fight for their survival the horrible toll of the earthquake is more than 220,000 dead and 300,000 injured damage is estimated at more than 10 billion dollar to this day the country has still not been completely rebuilt the island still Bears the scars of the terrible earthquake of January 12th 20 the impact of major earthquakes is always devastating but some are so powerful ful they can change the course of history some argue that that's the case with number two on our list the great kto earthquake that struck Japan in 1923 just before noon on September 1st 1923 the residents of Yokohama and Tokyo on the island of HHA are shaken by an earthquake with magnitude between 7.9 and 8.2 somewhere in sagami Bay fault located in the middle of the four tectonic plates that make up the seabed had ruptured so violently that the North Shore of the bay and the water level Rose 2 in just 14 seconds near the epicenter buildings are collapsing before the eyes of the inhabitants hotels lining the shore are overwhelmed by Rising Waters the Japanese are about to experience an earthquake's worst Horrors 72 km away in Tokyo entire neighborhoods see the ground liquefy under their feet the coastal Villages located not far from the city are hit by tsunami 12 High all over the region Hills are collapsing and giant landslides are burying houses dragging everything in their path eyewitnesses safely docked in Yokohama Harbor report seeing the city enveloped in cloud of dust from the thousands of collapsed buildings and then through the dust the Flames the Quake happened at lunchtime when many were cooking over open Flames these fires ignite the wood and paper homes to create rampaging firestorms through Yokohama and Tokyo like San Francisco 17 years earlier broken gas Ms feed fires that are already being supercharged by typhoon winds on the other side of the island nature is throwing everything at the Japanese people all at once as fire ravages the ruins of their cities the terrified citizens run for any safe space they can find to escape the collapsing buildings some 38,000 people gather on open ground in downtown Tokyo it's an ill- fated decision the intense heat of the fires produces devastating 300 foot tall fire tornado known to the locals as dragon Whirlwind it's difficult to imagine the abject Terror these people felt when faced by this deadly swirling Vortex of flames only 300 survive more than 37,000 burn to death where they stand as the fires burn uncontrollably some Japanese devastated by the sight of their cities and ruins look for someone to blame rumors spread that Koreans the subjects of Japanese rule for nearly 20 years had started many of these fires poisoned water supplies and were looting and pillaging that none of this was true didn't matter gangs roamed the streets beating to death anyone they suspected was Korean some estimates put the number of innocent victims of this vigilante Slaughter at 10,000 the worst of nature was exposing the worst of mankind the death toll from the 1923 earthquake was reported to be 140,000 the city of Yokohama was almost 90% raised as was 60% of Tokyo in total 600,000 houses were destroyed and 1.9 million people were left homeless later the two cities will be rebuilt but the impact of the earthquake will be considerable and has given historians something to chew on in the early 1920s Yokohama was open to the rest of the world it was considered bridge between Japanese and Western civilizations but many Japanese interpreted the disaster as Divine punishment for submitting to decadence According to some historians Japan then closed its Society out of superstition to avoid being struck by new tragedy the disaster rekindled the Nationalist flame and return to to Traditional Values an ideology which would have played crucial role when Japan entered World War II in 1941 that's how the devastating earthquake of 1923 may have changed the history of the 20th century At Last At number one here's an earthquake that destroyed city and political movement and helped birth an economic superpower it's China's great Tong Shen earthquake of 1976 in July 1976 chairman ma the leader of China Falls seriously ill he is the symbol of the so-called cultural revolution which aims to renounce economic intellectual and scientific advances and to promote proletarian ideology one year earlier Chinese scientists had successfully predicted three earthquakes saving thousands of lives as part of the cultural revolution those scientists were removed from office it would be terrible decision within the country mau's movement has thrown China into chaos all elements considered non compliant are eliminated but on July 28th 1976 an unforeseeable event will change the course of history at 3:42 a.m. violent Tremors hit the mining town of tongshan the earth shakes and rumbles it's an earthquake of incredible violence magnitude 7.8 almost the entire city was built on very loose soil and the foundations of most the city's buildings were not deeply anchored in Rock under the effect of seismic waves the ground instantly liquefies Tang Shan is shattered the next morning reveals landscape of desolation hundreds of thousands of residents are trapped under the rubble it took only 16 seconds to destroy an entire city the survivors begin digging to rescue members of their families friends and neighbors but Fate has more in store second earthquake with magnitude of 7.1 hits the city in the afternoon two violent earthquakes in the space of single day real nightmare the heroic inhabitants managed to free 80% of the people trapped under the rubble but while hundreds of thousands of injured people are still trapped by debris little help is forthcoming the gang of four the name given to the to the four officials who run the country alongside Mao refuse the humanitarian aid offered by other countries they are completely uninterested in the heroism of the people of tangshan and their fight for their own Survival they demonstrate contempt that the Chinese people will never forgive or forget the toll of the 1976 earthquake is still the subject of debate the official figure of 679 dead makes this earthquake by far the deadliest of the 20th century but according to some experts the number of victims could actually be double or even triple and could be closer to 700,000 shortly after the disaster chairman Mau died members of the gang of four were imprisoned for treason against the Chinese people the cultural revolution was consigned to the dustman of History universities reopened Science and Technology were embraced once again economic growth was prioritized and China went on to become the strongest economy in the world the city of Tang Shan has been rebuilt and now thrives its population exceeds 3 million people given the timing of events many experts believe that the earthquake that struck Tong Shan in 1976 played role in the downfall of the cultural revolution and those close to Ma if this hypothesis is true then the political impact of this natural disaster is unparalleled in history when you combine all that with the extent of the damage caused and the number of victims it's easy to make case that the great Tong Shan earthquake of 1976 takes first place in the ranking of the 10 top earthquakes that have left their marks nothing can prepare you when the earth starts literally moving underneath you and the reality is when these Quakes are at their strongest there is nothing we can do to keep ourselves safe the violent power of these events is so extreme that nothing man-made can survive them billions of people around the world live around dangerous Vault lines and as we've seen they're living on trap door to Hell on Earth that can spring open at any moment we can only hope that seismologists and geologists can perfect their prediction methods because right now when it comes to the big ones that will inevitably strike we're relying on just one thing to escape unscathed pure random chance goodbye and good luck out there