Worst plane crash ever. The worst plane crashes in the world

The conquest of airspace by man is the greatest event, which, unfortunately, is also associated with the death of many testers of the first aircraft. More than 200 years have passed since the first successful human flight in airspace Earth. Air travel is one of the most quick ways to cover great distances. But modern aircraft - so reliable on the ground, in the air, and during takeoff and landing - can run into unforeseen problems. Most major plane crashes world - we have collected information for readers about the terrible tragedies that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

On July 3, 1988, a tragedy occurred with an Iranian Airbus A-300, which was shot down over the Persian Gulf by an American cruiser. This major plane crash killed 290 people, including 65 children. According to the US authorities, the cruiser team mistook the airliner for an Iranian fighter. There was no apology from the US government.

The tragic incident that occurred on January 8, 1996 in Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo, is one of the largest air crashes in the world. An An-32B aircraft of Russian airlines was carrying out cargo transportation. The crew was preparing for a normal flight. On board, in addition to crew members, was a citizen of Zaire, who accompanied the cargo. The runway, 1700 meters long, was without a fence, and only a drainage ditch separated it from the local market, located perpendicular to the runway. During the runway runway, the crew was unable to raise the nose of the aircraft and tried to stop the takeoff, but the aircraft skidded straight into the market and caught fire, colliding with buildings. The dead: one of the crew members and 297 people who were in the market. Most of the dead are women and children. It was possible to identify only 66 bodies, since the rest were terribly mutilated.

As it turned out later, the plane was loaded by a local airline, which did not take into account the special aircraft. Crew members were not present during loading. As a result, it was exceeded allowable weight aircraft, and he could not take off.

To date, this is the largest air crash in the world that occurred on the ground.

298 people died

On July 17, 2014, another tragedy occurred, which became one of the largest air crashes in the world. A Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 flew from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The flight was in normal mode, but 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Russian border, the aircraft stopped communicating. There were no alarms from him. The plane was found crashed near the village of Gradovo in the Donetsk region. The complexity of the work to establish the causes of the tragedy is due to the fact that this is an area of ​​armed confrontation between the opposition regions and the authorities of Ukraine. None of the parties to the conflict in the east of the country pleaded guilty to the plane crash. It is only known that the plane, according to the main version of the investigation, was shot down by unidentified persons from the Buk anti-aircraft missile system. Everyone who was on board the airliner died - a total of 298 people.

301 people died

On August 19, 1980, a major plane crash occurred at the airport in Riyadh, in which all 301 people on board died. The worst thing is that passengers and crew members could have been saved, but the sluggishness of the airport emergency services led to the fact that the doors to the burning cabin were opened only 23 minutes after the emergency landing of the aircraft. When the rescuers nevertheless opened the main door to the plane, there was an instantaneous ignition of the cabin and all the passengers and crew members who were in it died in the flames. Salon literally burned to the ground. Why were they unable to open emergency exits from the plane, remains unknown.

Problems aboard the Lockheed L-1011 began in flight. A fire alarm in the cargo hold went off. The plane immediately turned around and headed for Riyadh airport. The crew did not speak English well and could not understand the firefighting instructions in the cargo hold.

On August 19, 1980, the world's largest overwater plane crash occurred, resulting in the death of 329 people (everyone on board). The tragedy occurred 70 kilometers from the Irish city of Cork in neutral waters Atlantic Ocean. An Indian Airlines Boeing 747 was flying from Montreal to Bombay when it exploded. The crew of the plane did not have time to transmit a distress signal - the airliner collapsed in the air. Found flight recorders confirmed the main version of the death of the airliner - it was a terrorist attack. Sikh extremists were accused of preparing and carrying out the explosion.

346 people died

March 3, 1974 DC-10 Turkish airline 6 minutes after taking off from Paris, it fell in the Ermenonville forest area. The airliner was completely destroyed. 346 people died. The cause of the tragedy was a malfunction of the cargo compartment door lock. As the plane began to climb, the door suddenly opened. There was an explosive decompression that destroyed the control system and the aircraft went into a dive. He fell for a minute and a half until he hit the ground. This is one of the largest air crashes in the world.

349 people died

Planes are in distress due to technical malfunctions, unforeseen situations, terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, one of the reasons for the tragedies that occur is the human factor. It was he who led to one of the largest air crashes in the world, which occurred on November 12, 1996, when in the sky over unsuspecting residents Indian city Charkhi Dadri collided between Boeing 747 and Il-76TD. 349 people died, and rescuers found 4 survivors at the crash site, but they died due to too late assistance. The cause of the collision was an insufficient level of knowledge in English pilots of the Il-76 aircraft, who allowed the vessel to descend, which led to a collision with the Boeing.

On August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747 flew from Tokyo to Osaka. 12 minutes after takeoff, there was a loud bang and the hydraulic system stopped working. For 32 minutes, the crew of the aircraft selflessly tried to turn the ship around and head back to Tokyo, using engine thrust instead of failed rudders. Passengers no longer hoped for a miracle and wrote farewell notes to relatives and friends. At an altitude of one and a half thousand meters, the Boeing crashed into the slope of Mount Otsutaka. The rescue team managed to reach the crash site only after 14 hours. They were shocked when they found four survivors - two women and two children. 520 people died.

In the history of world aviation, this is one of the largest air crashes.

On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747s collided at the airport in Los Rodeos. 583 people died. The cause of the incident was the incorrect interpretation of the dispatcher's commands by the commander of one of the airliners. This catastrophe radically changed the attitude towards security measures in world aviation.

The most monstrous in their consequences were the air crashes that occurred on September 11, 2001, when four civilian aircraft were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of them were aimed at the towers of the World shopping center and rammed them. One airliner crashed into the Pentagon building. The last aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania. These disasters caused the death of 2977 people (passengers, crew members, rescuers and other victims).

The history of air transportation has more than one hundred major disasters. Such accidents, although rare, are usually fatal. The most terrible plane crash to date has claimed the lives of almost six hundred people.

The most famous plane crashes

Flight No. 123 Japan Airlines

After the Boeing's keel came off, the team continued to fly the plane for thirty-two minutes, trying to stabilize the state of the airliner. However, he got out of control and crashed into mountain range. Four passengers are known to have survived.

Disaster over India (Charkhi Dadri)

No one survived this terrible accident. The Boeing disintegrated while still in the air after the collision, the IL remained “undamaged”, but lost control.

Air crash in Ermenonville

Just seventy-two seconds after the incident, the plane crashed. Three hundred and forty-six people were victims of the Ermenonville disaster.

Crash L-1011

The airliner managed to land, but for unknown reasons, did not turn off the engines, but continued to move, stopping much further than the firefighters waiting for it. They did not dare to approach the board. Twenty-three minutes later, the plane was already completely enveloped in fire. All those inside, and this is three hundred and one people, were burned or died from suffocation.

Flight IR655

America never pleaded guilty, and no apologies were made to the families of the two hundred and ninety victims. Nevertheless, the US authorities paid almost sixty-two million dollars in compensation.

Flight No. 191 American Airlines

Plane crash near Donetsk

His crash happened over Donetsk. Nearly three hundred people died. As you know, the Boeing was in the zone of active hostilities and was shot down.

The results of the investigation should be made public in 2018.

A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula

Among those who returned after the holidays was a little ten-month-old girl - Darina Gromova. Her photo at Pulkovo airport, which her mother posted in social network with the inscription "Main Passenger", became a symbol of the plane crash and was replicated by many media. The A321 crash was the largest mass death Russian citizens throughout the history of world aviation.

The most terrible plane crash to date The most terrible, unexpected and even ridiculous is the plane crash that occurred in 1977. She claimed the lives of nearly six hundred people.

At the airport in Tenerife in 1977, two large airliners collided during takeoff. We are talking about Boeing - 747, owned by the Dutch and American airlines. They ended up in Tenerife by accident. Airplanes were redirected there because of the terrorist attack that took place in Gran Canaria the day before.

The Boeings were moving along the taxiway towards each other and did not have time to avoid the collision. Five hundred and eighty-three people died in that crash. Only sixty-one passengers survived.

According to the site, the fastest planes in the world were taken out of service precisely because they often had an emergency.
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Man has always dreamed of flying into the sky. Ancient Greek myths tell that Daedalus and his son Icarus took off into the sky with the help of wings that were made of feathers, wax and thread.

And the greatest scientist, inventor and artist Leonardo do Vinci once created sketches of an unusual aircraft. He had to use the strength of human muscles to fly into the endless sky.

People have been trying to create such flying machines for a long time. And they created...

History of world air crashes

The very first flights in the sky began at the end of the 19th century. It was then that the statistics of world air crashes began. In the process of development of flights on airplanes (cargo, passenger), air crashes of the world began to occur more and more often. The statistics of their crashes grew incredibly until 1970. And it is the 70s that are the peak terrible tragedies in the sky.

Later, due to the growth modern technologies, improvement aviation technology and the tightening of requirements and rules for flight safety by the 80s, the number of accidents with aircraft began to decrease. There is a dynamic decrease in the number of air crashes from 616, with 15,689 deaths, in the 70s to more than 300 accidents with 8,000 deaths in the 2000s.

Air crashes of the world, their geography

Geographically, in this terribly sad statistics of disasters, the United States ranks. According to the well-known information of the Aviation Safety Network, in this country, from 1945 to the present day, a huge number of passenger aircraft- more than 630. More than 9,000 people died in these accidents.

Russia, unfortunately, occupies the second place in this statistics. Since 1945, more than 200 catastrophes in the sky have occurred on the territory of the USSR of those times and modern Russia. At the same time, more than 5,000 people died.

3rd place - for Colombia.

The smallest number of air crashes - in Ecuador.

Statistics on the distribution of air crashes in recent years by country

In 1977, the world record for the number of victims in a plane crash was set. In the Tenerife area, two Boeing 747 airliners of the well-known Pan-America and KLM airlines unexpectedly collided. Then the victims were 583 people.

The total number of air crashes in the world is steadily increasing.

The most dangerous airline in the world, according to Actual Security (Swedish magazine), is the Soviet Aeroflot. According to them, the statistics of air crashes in the world shows that there are more than 18 crashes per 1 million Aeroflot flights. The second place in this sad list is occupied by the airlines of Taiwan - more than 11 accidents per million departures. Third place behind Egypt (more than 11), then - India (more than 10), Turkey, China, Philippines, South Korea and Poland - more than 6 accidents per 41 million flights. The safest is the South-West company (America). For 1 million 800 thousand flights of airliners of this company, not a single disaster happened.

The largest air crashes in the world by the number of victims

This table represents the most terrible plane crashes peace.

Description of some plane crashes

In March 1974, after opening the cargo hold, a French THY Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed in a forest. In total - 346 dead.

In March 1977, a Boeing 747-206B (KLM) collided with a Boeing 747-121 (Pan Am) and crashed into canary islands in Tenerife. 583 dead (worst air crash in the world).

In May 1979, due to damage to the hydraulic system, an American Airlines DC-10 crashed in the Chicago area. 273 people died.

In August 1980, after making an emergency landing, an L-1011-200 Tristar (Saudi) aircraft burned down in Saudi Arabia(Riyadh). 301 people died.

In June 1985, an Air India Boeing 747-237B was destroyed after a terrorist explosion. 329 people died.

In July 1988, by a ridiculous mistake, he was shot down by a military missile from the ship Vincennes (America) (Iran Air). It happened in the Persian Gulf. 290 people died.

In August 1985, a Boeing 747SR (Japan Airlines) crashed into a mountain in Tokyo. Surprisingly, only four survived. 520 people died.

In November 1996, another Boeing 747-168B (company Saudi Arabian Airlines) with the Kazakh Il-76TD aircraft. A total of 349 people died then.

In January 1996, an overloaded Ant-32 crashed into the city market of Kinshasa in Zaire. More than 297 dead. 4 people from the crew survived (total crew members 5).

More recently, on July 17, 2014, another terrible tragedy occurred on Ukrainian territory (60 kilometers from the border with Russia) - a Boeing 777 airliner (Malaysian Airlines) crashed (was shot down by the military). 295 passengers (including 80 children) and the entire crew (15 people) died. Until now, the true cause of the tragedy has not been officially clarified.

The death of heads of state in aviation accidents

Air crashes in the world occur in the most unexpected places, for various reasons, and people of various statuses in society die in them.

The leaders of all countries, as a rule, use airliners as transportation due to time savings. The most modern and, it would seem, very reliable in terms of safety of the court are used for this. However, an unforeseen failure of equipment or simply a human factor in these cases can cause aircraft crashes. Here are some plane crashes in the world in which the first government officials died:

In 2010 - Lech Kaczynski (President of Poland) with his wife, military people from the Polish high command and other political figures died in a Tu-154 crash near Smolensk.

In 2004, Boris Trajkovski (President of Macedonia) died in an accident in Bosnia.

In 2001, the Sudanese military leadership died in the south of the country.

In 1988, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who was the president of Pakistan, died. The tragedy occurred over the city of Lahore, Pakistan (possibly as a result of a terrorist attack).

1986 - Samora Machel (President of Mozambique) died in South Africa in a plane crash.

In 1981, Jaime Roldos Aguilera, the President of Ecuador, died. The plane crashed in the Wairapunga mountains of Ecuador.

In 1969, René Barientos Ortuño died in Arc (Bolivia).

In 1966 - Abdul Salam Aref (President of Iraq) in southern Iraq.

In 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld (UN Secretary General) died in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

In 1957, Ramon Magsaysay died as a result of another disaster in the municipality of Balamban (Philippines).

Many more well-known names can be added to the lists of the dead from among the statesmen of small and big countries peace. There are also mysterious plane crashes of the world among them, mainly those whose causes have not yet been clarified. These include the plane crash that occurred in Panama. In 1981, Omar Torrijos, the general, leader of Panama, died under mysterious circumstances.

Statistical data on Russian Airlines

IN Lately Almost all Russian airlines, when buying, prefer foreign (already used) aircraft, rather than new Russian ones. And as you know, the control of imported modern equipment equipped with electronics is very different from the control of domestic aircraft. Accordingly, the risk of occurrence, again, just a “human factor” increases.

So, Rossiya has 184 human lives, Vladivostok-Avia has 145, KrasAir has 29, and Tyumen Airlines has 5. victims: "Transaero", " Ural Airlines and Domodedovo Airlines.

Liner rating statistics

From the above information, we can conclude that the Boeing 777 is by far the most reliable type of airliner.

The main causes of air crashes

Every year, the black, terrifyingly tragic list of world air crashes is replenished. Quite often, the causes of these tragedies remain not fully understood. Air crashes in the world are very frequent and unpredictable. The investigation sometimes hits a dead end. Even the magical ones often cannot figure out the cause of some mid-air disasters.

The main causes of modern aviation accidents: technical problems (failure of technical devices, minor problems), errors of air traffic controllers, pilots and other personnel (human factor), international terrorism, fighting, ridiculous fatal accidents (military air defense errors, thunderstorms, lightning, even bird collisions, etc.).

The most important cause of the air crashes that have occurred is the very ill-fated human factor. In the practice of the whole world, it accounts for almost 70% of all aircraft crashes.

And yet, despite the fact that air crashes are terrible and each time cause a very painful reaction from the entire world community, aviation remains one of the most reliable and safe of all modes of transport in existence.

No matter how far you walk scientific and technical progress, catastrophes have happened, are happening and, probably, will happen for a long time to come. Some of them could have been avoided, but most of the worst events in the world were inevitable because they happened at the behest of mother nature.

Worst plane crash ever

Collision of two Boeing 747s

Humanity does not know a more terrible plane crash than the one that occurred on March 27, 1977 on the island of Tenerife, belonging to the Canary group. On this day, two Boeing 747s collided at Los Rodeo Airport, one of which belonged to KLM, the other to Pan American. This terrible tragedy claimed 583 lives. The reasons that led to this disaster is a fatal and paradoxical combination of circumstances.

Los Rodeos airport this ill-fated Sunday was seriously overloaded. The dispatcher spoke with a strong Spanish accent, and radio communications suffered from serious interference. Because of this, the Boeing commander KLM misinterpreted the command to abort the flight, which became the fatal cause of the collision of two maneuvering aircraft.

Only a few passengers managed to escape through the holes formed in the Pan American aircraft. Another Boeing lost its wings and tail, causing it to fall 150 meters from the crash site, after which it was dragged for another 300 meters. Both flying cars caught fire.

There were 248 passengers on board the Boeing KLM, none of whom survived. The Pan American plane was the site of the death of 335 people, including the entire crew, as well as the famous model and actress Yves Meyer.

The worst of man-made disasters

On July 6, 1988, the worst of all catastrophes occurred in the North Sea, famous history oil production. It happened on the Piper Alpha oil platform, which was built in 1976. The number of victims was 167 people, the company suffered a loss of about three and a half billion dollars.

The most annoying thing is that the number of victims could be much less if it were not for ordinary human stupidity. There was a large gas leak, followed by an explosion. But instead of stopping the oil supply immediately after the start of the accident, the service personnel waited for the command from the management.

The countdown went on for minutes, and soon the entire platform of the Occidental Petroleum corporation was engulfed in fire, even the living quarters caught fire. Those who could have survived the blast were burned alive. Only those who managed to jump into the water survived.

Worst water accident ever

When the topic of tragedies on the water is touched upon, the movie Titanic involuntarily comes to mind. Moreover, such a disaster really happened. But this shipwreck is not the worst in the history of mankind.

Wilhelm Gustloff

The sinking of the German ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" is considered to be the biggest disaster that occurred on the water. The tragedy occurred on January 30, 1945. Its culprit was a submarine of the Soviet Union, which knocked out a ship that could accommodate almost 9,000 passengers.

This, at that time, the perfect product of shipbuilding, was made in 1938. It seemed unsinkable and contained 9 decks, restaurants, a winter garden, climate control, gyms, theaters, dance floors, swimming pools, a church, and even Hitler's rooms.

Its length was more than two hundred meters, it could swim half the planet without refueling. ingenious creation could not sink without outside intervention. And it happened in the person of the crew of the S-13 submarine, commanded by A. I. Marinesko. IN legendary ship three torpedoes were fired. In a matter of minutes, he was in the abyss of the waters of the Baltic Sea. All crew members were killed, including about 8,000 representatives of the German military elite who were evacuated from Danzig.

The crash of the Wilhelm Gustloff (video)

The greatest environmental tragedy

Shrunken Aral Sea

Among all environmental disasters leading place takes shrinking Aral Sea. In their better times it was the fourth largest lake in the world.

The disaster occurred due to the unreasonable use of water, which was used to water gardens and fields. The shrinkage was due to the ill-considered political ambitions and actions of the leaders of those times.

Gradually, the coast line moved far inland, which led to the extinction of most species of flora and fauna. In addition, droughts began to increase, the climate changed significantly, navigation became impossible, and more than sixty people were left without work.

Where did the Aral Sea disappear: strange symbols on the dried bottom (VIDEO)

Nuclear disaster

What could be worse than a nuclear catastrophe? The lifeless kilometers of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl region are the embodiment of these fears. The accident occurred in 1986, when one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded early in April morning.

Chernobyl 1986

This tragedy claimed several hundred lives of tow trucks, thousands died over the next ten years. And how many people were forced to leave their homes, only God knows ...

Children of these people are still born with developmental anomalies. The atmosphere, land and water around the nuclear power plant are contaminated with radioactive substances.

The level of radiation in this region is still thousands of times higher than normal. No one knows how long it will take for people to settle in these places. The scale of this disaster is still not fully known.

Chernobyl accident 1986: Chernobyl, Pripyat - liquidation (VIDEO)

Disaster over the Black Sea: Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation crashed

The crash of the Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Not so long ago, there was a crash of a Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, heading to Syria. It claimed the lives of 64 talented artists of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine well-known leading TV channels, the head of a charitable organization - the famous Doctor Lisa, eight military men, two civil servants, and all crew members. In total, 92 people died in this terrible plane crash.

On this tragic morning in December 2016, the plane refueled at Adler, but crashed unexpectedly shortly after takeoff. The investigation was conducted for a long time, because it was necessary to know what was the cause of the Tu-154 crash.

The commission investigating the causes of the accident, among the circumstances that led to the disaster, called the overload of the aircraft, crew fatigue and the low professional level of training and organization of the flight.

The results of the investigation of the Tu-154 crash of the Ministry of Defense of Russia (VIDEO)

Submarine "Kursk"

Submarine "Kursk"

The crash of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which killed 118 people on board, occurred in 2000 in the Barents Sea. This is the second largest accident in the history of the Russian submarine fleet after the B-37 disaster.

On August 12, as planned, preparations began for mock attacks. The last recorded actions on the boat were recorded at 11.15.

A few hours before the tragedy, the crew commander was informed about the cotton, which he did not pay attention to. Then the boat shook violently, which was associated with the inclusion of the antenna of the radar station. After that, the captain of the boat did not get in touch anymore. At 23.00 the situation on the submarine was declared as emergency, which was reported to the leadership of the fleet and the country. On the morning of the next day, as a result of search work, the Kursk was found at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 108 m.

The official version of the cause of the tragedy is the explosion of a training torpedo, which occurred as a result of a fuel leak.

Submarine Kursk: what really happened? (VIDEO)

The crash of the ship "Admiral Nakhimov"

The crash of the passenger ship "Admiral Nakhimov" occurred in August 1981 near Novorossiysk. There were 1234 people on board the ship, 423 of whom lost their lives on that ill-fated day. It is known that Vladimir Vinokur and Lev Leshchenko were late for this flight.

At 23:12, the ship collided with the dry cargo ship Pyotr Vasev, as a result of which the electric generator was flooded and the light went out on the Nakhimov. The ship became uncontrollable and continued to move forward by inertia. As a result of the collision, a hole of up to eighty square meters was formed in the starboard side. Panic began among the passengers, many climbed onto the port side and thus went down to the water.

Almost a thousand people ended up in the water, who, moreover, got dirty with fuel oil and paint. Eight minutes after the collision, the ship sank.

Steamboat Admiral Nakhimov: the wreck of the ship - Russian Titanic (VIDEO)

Oil platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico

The worst environmental disasters in the world in 2010 were supplemented by another one that happened in the Gulf of Mexico, eighty kilometers from Louisiana. This is one of the most dangerous man-made accidents for the environment. It happened on April 20 at the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

As a result of pipe rupture, about five million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

A 75,000 sq. km, which is 5% of its total area. The disaster took the lives of 11 people, 17 were injured.

Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico (VIDEO)

The crash of the Concordia

On January 14, 2012, the list of the most terrible incidents in the world was replenished with one more. Near Italian Tuscany a cruise ship"Costa Concordia" ran into a ledge of rock, as a result of which a seventy-meter hole was formed in it. At this time, most of the passengers were in the restaurant.

The right side of the liner began to sink into the water, then it was thrown onto the shallows 1 km from the crash site. There were more than 4,000 people on the ship, who were evacuated all night, but not everyone was saved: 32 people still died and a hundred were injured.

Costa Concordia - the crash through the eyes of eyewitnesses (VIDEO)

Krakatoa eruption in 1883

Natural disasters show how insignificant and helpless we are before the phenomena of nature. But all the most terrible disasters in the world are nothing compared to the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, which occurred in 1883.

On May 20, a large smoke column could be seen over the Krakatoa volcano. At that moment, even at a distance of 160 kilometers from him, the windows of houses trembled. All nearest islands covered with a thick layer of dust and pumice.

The eruptions continued until 27 August. The last explosion was the climax, as a result of which sound waves passed, several times rounded the entire planet. On the ships sailing in the Sunda Strait at that moment, the compasses stopped showing correctly.

These explosions submerged the entire northern part of the island. The seabed has been uplifted by the eruptions. A lot of ash from the volcano remained in the atmosphere for another two to three years.

The tsunami, whose height was thirty meters, washed away about three hundred settlements, claimed the lives of 36,000 people.

The most powerful eruption of Krakatau Volcano (VIDEO)

Earthquake in Spitak in 1988

On December 7, 1988, the list of "The best disasters in the world" was replenished with another one that occurred in the Armenian Spitak. On this tragic day, tremors literally wiped out this city from the face of the earth in just half a minute, destroyed Leninakan, Stepanavan and Kirovakan beyond recognition. In total, twenty-one cities and three hundred and fifty villages were affected.

In Spitak itself, the earthquake had a force of ten, Leninakan was hit by a force of nine, and Kirovakan by an force of eight, and almost the rest of Armenia was hit by a force of six. Seismologists have calculated that during this earthquake energy was released, corresponding to the strength of ten exploding atomic bombs. The wave that this tragedy caused was recorded by scientific laboratories almost all over the world.

This natural disaster took away 25,000 lives, 140,000 health, and 514,000 roofs over their heads. Forty percent of the industry of the republic is out of order, schools, hospitals, theaters, museums, houses of culture, roads and railways are destroyed.

The military, doctors, public figures of the whole country and abroad, both near and far, were called to help. Humanitarian aid was actively collected all over the world. Tents were set up throughout the area affected by the tragedy, field kitchens and first aid posts.

The saddest and instructive thing in this situation is that the scale and victims of this terrible disaster could be many times less if seismic activity this region was taken into account and all buildings were erected taking into account these features. The unpreparedness of rescue services also contributed.

Tragic days: earthquake in Spitak (VIDEO)

2004 tsunami Indian Ocean - Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka

In December 2004, a devastating tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake hit the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other countries. Huge waves devastated the area and brought death to 200,000 people. The most annoying thing is that most of the dead are children, since in this region there is a high proportion of children per population, in addition, children are physically weaker and less able to resist water than an adult.

Aceh in Indonesia suffered the most losses. Almost all the buildings there were destroyed, 168,000 people died.

IN geographically this earthquake was just huge. Moved up to 1200 kilometers of rock. The shift occurred in two phases with an interval of two to three minutes.

The number of victims turned out to be so high, because all along the coast indian ocean there was no general warning system.

There is nothing worse than disasters and tragedies that deprive people of life, shelter, health, destroy industry and everything that a person has worked for many years. But it often turns out that the number of victims and destruction in such situations could be much less if everyone were conscientious about their professional duties, in some cases it was necessary to foresee an evacuation plan and a warning system local residents. Let's hope that in the future humanity will find a way to avoid such terrible tragedies or reduce the damage from them.

Tsunami in Indonesia 2004 (VIDEO)