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Natural Disasters result from Natural Hazards like, Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami which end up affecting human life due to the inability of humans to cope with the situation. If man is well -prepared for any kind of natural calamity which affects civilization, then maybe the extent of loss to mankind will not be severe.

Let us focus on some of the natural calamities which affect civilization.

AVALANCHE

Avalanche is caused due to the buildup of snow on a mountain which causes it to slide down forcefully bringing down with it huge rocks and other materials that are present on the mountains.

Some of the notable avalanches are:

1999 Galtur Avalanche
2002 Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide

Top Ten deadliest natural disasters

Rank	Event	Location	Date	Death Toll (Estimate)
1.	1931 China floods	China	01931-01-011931, July–November	2,000,000-4,000,000*^[1]
2.	1887 Yellow River flood	China	01887-01-011887, September–October	900,000–2,000,000
3.	1556 Shaanxi earthquake	Shaanxi Province, China	01556-01-011556, January 23	830,000+
4.	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh	01970-01-011970, November 13	500,000
5.	1839 India Cyclone	India	01839-01-011839, November 25	≥ 300,000
6.	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami	Indian Ocean	02004-12-262004, December 26	283,100
7.	526 Antioch earthquake	Antioch, Turkey	00526-05-20526, May 20	250,000
8.	1976 Tangshan earthquake	Tangshan, Hebei, China	01976-07-281976, July 28	242,000
9.	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	Haiyuan, Ningxia-Gansu, China	01920-12-161920, December 16	240,000
10.	1975 Banqiao Dam failure	Henan, China	01975-08-011975, August	231,000

Deadliest natural disasters by kind of Event

Event	Event name	Location	Date	Death Toll (Estimate)
Avalanche	Wellington avalanche	United States	01910-03-01March 1, 1910	00000096 96
Blizzard	Iran Blizzard	Iran	01972-02-01February 1972	00004000 4,000
Drought	Great Famine of 1876–78	India	01921-01-011876–1878	05000000 5,250,000
Earthquake	Shaanxi Earthquake	China	01556-01-01January 23, 1556	00830000 830,000
Flood	1931 China floods	China	01931-01-011931	04000000 2,000,000–4,000,000
Hailstorm	Roopkund, Uttaranchal	India	00800-01-019th century	00000600 200–600
Heat wave	European Heat Wave of 2003	Europe	02003-01-01June-August 2003	00037451 37,451
Landslide	1999 Vargas mudslides	Venezuela	December 1999	00020006 20,006
Limnic Eruption	Lake Nyos	Cameroon	01986-01-01August 21, 1986	00001746 1,746
Pandemic	Black Death	worldwide	01330-01-011330–1351	75000000 75,000,000
Tornado	Saturia-Manikganj Sadar Tornado	Bangladesh	01989-04-26April 26, 1989	00001300 1,300
Tropical cyclone	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh	01970-11-13November 13, 1970	00500000 200,000–500,000
Tsunami	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami	Indian Ocean	02004-12-26December 26, 2004	00285000 230,000
Volcano	Mount Tambora	Indonesia	01815-01-011815	00092000 92,000
Wildfire	Peshtigo Fire	United States	01871-10-08October 8, 1871	00002000 2,000

EARTHQUAKE

An earthquake is a sudden eruption of stored energy which releases seismic waves and there is displacement of ground, natural and manmade objects. Seismic waves are waves which travel through the earth.

Earthquakes

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$830,000	1556 Shaanxi earthquake	China	1556
$286,000	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake	Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand	2004
$255,000	1976 Tangshan earthquake	China	1976
$240,000	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	China	1920
$ 230,000	1138 Aleppo earthquake	Syria	1138
$200,000	Damghan earthquake	Iran	1856
$150,000	Ardabil earthquake	Iran	1893
$137,000	1730 Hokkaidō earthquake	Japan	1730
$110,000	1948 Ashgabat earthquake	Turkmenistan	1948
$105,000	Great Kanto earthquake	Japan	1923
$100,000	Messina earthquake	Italy	1908
$100,000	1755 Lisbon earthquake	Portugal	1755
$100,000	Chihli earthquake	China	1290
$86,000	2005 Kashmir earthquake	Pakistan	2005
$85,000	Great Ansei Nankai Quakes, Japan	Japan	1854
$80,000	Shamakhi	Azerbaijan	1667
$77,000	Tabriz Earthquake	Iran	1727
$70,000	Changma, Gansu earthquake	China	1932
$ 69,197	2008 Sichuan earthquake	China	2008
$66,000	Ancash earthquake	Peru	1970
$60,000	Sicily earthquake^[2]	Italy	1693
$60,000	1935 Balochistan earthquake	British India	1935
$50,000	Calabria earthquake	Italy	1783
$40,000	Gulang, Gansu earthquake	China	1927
$40,000	Meiō Nankai, Japan earthquake	Japan	1498
$40,000	Quito earthquake	Ecuador	1797
$37,000	Genroku earthquake	Japan	1703
$35,000	1990 Manjil Rudbar earthquake	Iran	1990
$32,962	Erzincan earthquake	Turkey	1939
$30,000	Great Hōei Earthquake	Japan	1707
$ 30,000	2003 Bam earthquake	Iran	2003
$25,000	Spitak Earthquake	Armenia	1988
$25,000	1978 Tabas earthquake	Iran	1978
$23,700	Kamakura earthquake	Japan	1293
$23,000	Guatemala earthquake	Guatemala	1976
$20,000	Gujarat earthquake	India	2001
$20,000	Caracas earthquake	Venezuela	1812
$20,000	Chillán earthquake	Chile	1939
$18,000	Khait earthquake	Tajikistan	1949
$17,118	Izmit earthquake	Turkey	1999

Some of the biggest earthquakes are:

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale
July 2006 earthquake in Java measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale.

LAHAR

Lahars is a kind of volcanic eruption which involves the sliding of materials like rock, ash, mud from the sides of the volcano at a rapid pace. These slides are so rapid and fast that they are capable of destroying entire town in seconds killing hundreds and thousands of people immediately.

The best example of a Lahars is the Tangiwai disaster in Columbia.

LANDSLIDES

Landslides are similar to avalanches, only instead of snow, naturally occurring ground materials like rocks, trees, houses etc or whatever can be swept up, slides down causing damage to property and humans. Landslides are caused due to earthquakes, volcanoes or anything which disturbs the ground surface.

VOLCANO

A volcano lies inside the earth's surface and it spews hot gases and molten rocks to the surface of the earth. The gases which are emitted are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen suphide, water vapor. The molten rock is called lava. A fissure in the earths crust forms it.

Deposits of molten material and solid matter from the earths interiors flows into the crust which erupts in the form of a volcano. A huge crater in the shape of a bowl is formed on top of the cone. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology

Top Ten Deadliest Volcanic eruptions

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$ 92,000	Mount Tambora (see also Year Without a Summer)	Indonesia	01815-01-011815
$36,000	Krakatoa	Indonesia	01883-08-26August 26 - August 27, 1883
$29,000	Mount Pelée	Martinique	01902-05-07May 7 or May 8, 1902
$23,000	Nevado del Ruiz	Colombia	01985-11-13November 13, 1985
$18,000	Mount Vesuvius	Italy	01631-01-011631
$15,000	Mount Unzen	Japan	01792-01-011792
$10,000	Mount Kelut	Indonesia	01586-01-011586
$9,350	Laki. Killed about 25% of the population (33% were killed about 70 years before by smallpox)	Iceland	01783-06-08 June 8, 1783
$6,000	Santa Maria	Guatemala	01902-01-011902
$5,115	Mount Kelut	Indonesia	01919-05-19 May 19, 1919

There are 2 kinds of volcanoes: active and dormant

Active volcanoes are those which have erupted during historic times and dormant volcanoes are those which doesn't show any signs of eruptions but only gas escapes through them.

Limnic eruptions

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,746	Lake Nyos	Cameroon	1986
$37	Lake Monoun	Cameroon	1984

Top Ten Deadliest Heat waves

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
37,451	2003 European heat wave	Western Europe	02003-06-012003
3,418	2006 European heat wave	France, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Romania	02006-01-012006
2,541	1998 India heat wave	India	01998-01-011998
1,900	2003 India heat wave	India	02003-01-012003
1,250–10,000	1980 United States heat wave	United States	01980-01-011980
1,000–1,500	1987 Mediterranean heat wave	Greece, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy	01987-01-011987
over 1,000	1994 East Asia heat wave	China, Japan, South Korea	01994-01-011994
739	Chicago Heat Wave of 1995	United States (Chicago, Illinois)	01995-01-011995
500	Hungary Heat Wave of 2007	Hungary	02007-01-012007
437	Southern regions, Australia 1895–1896	Australia	01895-01-011895–1896

Volcanic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions are small eruptions from a volcano. These eruptions come in many forms, right from daily eruptions to extremely infrequent super volcanic eruptions where the eruptions are equal to 1000 cubic kilometers of materials. Some eruptions are in the form of pyroclastic flows that are clouds of ash and steam that trail down mountainsides at a speed exceeding even airliners.

TSUNAMI

Tsunami is a huge tidal wave which is caused by underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Tsunami is derived from the Japanese word. A Tsunami can have speed of 800km/hr and the waves can reach up to 135 ft also above sea level. Tsunamis can have devastating effects which are capable of destroying entire townships located along the seacoast.

Top Ten Deadliest Tsunamis

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$ 350,000 (sources vary)	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami	Indian Ocean	2004
$100,000	1755 Lisbon earthquake/tsunami/fire	Portugal, Morocco, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Cornwall)	1755
$100,000	1908 Messina earthquake/tsunami	Messina, Italy	1908
$36,000	caused by 1883 Krakatoa eruption	Indonesia	1883
$30,000		Tokaido/Nankaido, Japan	1707
$27,000		Japan	1826
$25,674	1868 Arica earthquake/tsunami	Arica, Chile	1868
$22,070		Sanriku, Japan	1896
$15,030	caused by 1792 Mount Unzen eruption in southwest Kyūshū	Kyūshū, Japan	1792
$13,486		Ryukyu Trench	1771

A series of waves occur, each higher than the previous one. Generally Tsunamis occur along the ring of fire which is area of volcanoes and seismic activities along the Pacific Ocean. A seismograph is a device by which Tsunami warnings can be alerted.

TORNADOES

Tornadoes are the one of the natural disasters pertaining to weather conditions. They are also known as twisters. These winds are extremely violent and which rotate in anti-clockwise direction in the north of the equator and in clock-wise direction in the south of the equator. They look like black funnel extending from the base of the cloud. The Tornado rotates at the rate of 480kph or even faster.

The Tornadoes are not more than 1 km wide but they are capable of destructing vast areas. The air pressure in the center of the tornado is lower than in the surrounding areas. The speed of the wind sends objects flying in all directions and is the cause of destruction of life and property. The Tornado doesn't last in a place for more than few minutes. It skips from place to place because of which some places get devastated while others are untouched.

Top Ten Deadliest Storms (non-cyclone)

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
15,100	Torrential rains and mudslides	Venezuela	1999
669	Heavy storms ("Winnie")	Philippines	2004
500	Lofoten, Heavy storm	Norway	1849
≥ 250	Great Lakes Storm of 1913	United States and Canada (Great Lakes region)	1913
210	Trøndelag, storm ("Follastormen")	Norway	1625
189	Eyemouth, Scotland, storm ("Black Friday")	United Kingdom	1881
140	Trøndelag, storm ("Titran disaster")	Norway	1899
96	Lofoten, storm	Norway	1868
30	Haugesund, storm ("Røvær disaster")	Norway	1899
26	Vesterålen, storm	Norway	1802

Top Ten Deadliest Tornadoes

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,300	The Saturia-Manikganj Sadar Tornado	Bangladesh; (Manikganj)	1989
$923	1969 East Pakistan Tornado	Bangladesh	1969
$695	The Tri-State Tornado	United States; (Missouri–Illinois–Indiana)	1925
$681	1973 Dhaka Tornado	Bangladesh	1973
$600	The Malta Tornado	Malta	1551
$500	The Sicily Tornado	Italy	1851
$500	The Narail-Magura Tornadoes	Bangladesh (Jessore)	1964
$500	The Comoro Tornado	Comoro	1951
$440	The Tangail Tornado	Bangladesh	1996
$400	Ivanovo, Yaroslavl Tornado	Russia	1984

Tornadoes are caused when cold polar air meets warm tropical air which results in instability caused by the warm rising air. Lightning, rains and hail begin to form and soon the funnel starts descending from the cloud. It is not actually a funnel but when the pressure inside the clouds drop, moisture in the air condenses which comes down in the form of a funnel. This is known as Bernoulli's principle.

In 1925, a killer tornado occurred in US who had a speed of 60 mph and was 220 miles long and 1 mile wide.

Top Ten Deadliest Cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
500,000 500,000	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh (East Pakistan)	1970
300,000 300,000	1839 Indian cyclone	India	1839
300,000 300,000	1881 Haiphong Typhoon	Vietnam	1881
300,000 300,000	1737 Calcutta cyclone	India	1737
210,000 210,000	Super Typhoon Nina—contributed to Banqiao Dam failure	China	1975
200,000 200,000	Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876	present day Bangladesh	1876
140,000 ~146,000	Cyclone Nargis	Myanmar	2008
138,866 138,866	1991 Bangladesh cyclone	Bangladesh	1991
060,000 100,000	1882 Bombay cyclone	Bombay, India	June 6, 1882
060,000 60,000	1922 Swatow Typhoon	China	1922
060,000 60,000	1864 Calcutta Cyclone	India	1864

Top Ten Deadliest Floods and landslides

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
2,500,000–3,700,000	1931 China floods	China	1931
900,000–2,000,000	1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood	China	1886
500,000–700,000	1938 Yellow River (Huang He) flood	China	1938
231,000	Banqiao Dam failure, result of Typhoon Nina. Approximately 86,000 people died from flooding and another 145,000 died during subsequent disease.	China	1975
145,000	1935 Yangtze river flood	China	1935
more than 100,000	St. Felix's Flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1530
100,000	Hanoi and Red River Delta flood	North Vietnam	1971
100,000	1911 Yangtze river flood	China	1911
50,000–80,000	St. Lucia's flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1287
60,000	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1212

Top Ten Deadliest Wildfires, bushfires

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$1,200–2,500	Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin	United States	1871
$453	Cloquet Fire, Minnesota	United States	1918
$418	Hinckley Fire, Minnesota	United States	1894
$≥ 250	Thumb Fire, Michigan	United States	1881
$200–250	Matheson Fire, Ontario	Canada	1916
$240	Sumatra, Kalimantan	Indonesia	1997
$230	Landes region	France	1949
$213	Greater Hinggan, Heilongjiang	China	1987
$160	Miramichi Fire, New Brunswick	Canada	1825
$110	1963 Paraná Forest fires,	Brazil	1963

Top Ten Deadliest Blizzards

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
$4,000	Iran Blizzard	Iran	1972
$1,317	2008 Afghanistan blizzard with snow storm	Afghanistan	2008
$400	Great Blizzard of 1888	United States	1888
$318	1993 North American Storm Complex	United States	1993
$235	Schoolhouse Blizzard	United States	1888
$199	Hakkōda Mountains incident	Japan	1902
$144	Armistice Day Blizzard	United States	1940
$133	2008 China Blizzard during snow storm	China	2008
$112	1995 Kazakh Blizzard during snow storm	Kazakhstan	1995
$54	Blizzard of 1978	United States	1978

Contractible diseases

Death Toll	Event	Location	Date
300,000,000-500,000,000	Smallpox	Worldwide	01901-01-0120th century alone
approx. 100,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Black Death	Asia, Europe, Africa	01300-01-011300s–1720s;
≥ 200,000,000	Measles	Worldwide	01851-01-01last 150 years
80,000,000–250,000,000	Malaria	Worldwide	01900-01-0120th century – present^[update]
50,000,000–100,000,000	Spanish Flu	Worldwide	01918-01-011918–1919
40,000,000–100,000,000	Tuberculosis	Worldwide	01900-01-0120th century – present^[update]
approx. 40,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Plague of Justinian	Asia, Europe, Africa	00540-01-01540–590
25,250,000	AIDS	Worldwide	01981-01-011981–present (as of 2007)
≥ 12,000,000	Bubonic Plague: Third Pandemic	Worldwide	01850-01-011850s–1950s
5,000,000	Antonine Plague	Roman Empire	00165-01-01165–180
4,000,000	Asian Flu pandemic	Worldwide	01957-01-011957
750,000	Hong Kong Flu pandemic	Worldwide	01968-01-011968
775	Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)	Mostly East Asia, few cases in Europe, Canada and United States	02002-01-012002–2003
677	West Nile Virus outbreak	North America	01999-01-011999–2004
256	H5N1 strain of Bird Flu	(mainly in Asia, few in Africa and Middle East)	02003-01-012003–present (as of 2007)

DROUGHT

Drought occurs when there is no rainfall in a geographic area where there is normally rainfall. There is a severe spell of dry weather conditions. Wells dry up, water-reservoirs dry up, crops are severely affected. Droughts occur when moisture-carrying winds from the oceans or other sources are replaced by dry winds. In such cases, there is a dry spell. If it lasts for a few days then it is known as dry spell. Whereas if the weather conditions prevail it is known as drought.

The effects of drought are many rights from drying of crops, drying of wells, death of wild stock and water habitats, increase in forest fires. Destruction of crops has multiple ill-effects ranging from unemployment of farmers, reduction in income, and increase in prices of crops and also suicides in farmers.

To sum it up, natural disasters are unavoidable, but with planning, foresight and implementation, the impact on human development can be reduced to a considerable extent.

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