15/15
Disaster↕ | Location↕ | Year↕ | Casualties↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vajont Dam Landslide | Longarone, Italy | 1963 | ~1,917 killed | Massive landslide fell into reservoir, created 250m wave that overtopped dam, wiped out town below, dam itself survived intact, engineering hubris |
Yungay Avalanche (Ancash Earthquake) | Yungay, Peru | 1970 | ~25,000 killed in Yungay alone | Earthquake triggered ice-rock avalanche from Huascarán, buried entire city at 300 km/h, only 400 of 25,000 survived, worst avalanche death toll ever |
White Friday Avalanches | Alps, Austria-Italy border (WWI) | 1916 | ~10,000 soldiers killed in one day | Both sides deliberately triggered avalanches as weapons during WWI, 'White Death' killed more than combat, bodies still emerging from glaciers |
Wellington Avalanche | Wellington, Washington, USA | 1910 | 96 killed | Deadliest avalanche in US history, swept two trains off a cliff, led to construction of longest railroad tunnel in Western Hemisphere |
Huascarán Debris Avalanche | Ranrahirca, Peru | 1962 | ~4,000 killed | Predecessor to 1970 disaster, ice mass broke from Huascarán north peak, buried Ranrahirca, warnings about Yungay went unheeded for 8 years |
Frank Slide | Frank, Alberta, Canada | 1903 | ~90 killed | 82 million tonnes of limestone slid off Turtle Mountain in 100 seconds, buried part of mining town, rocks still visible covering the valley floor |
Oso Mudslide | Oso, Washington, USA | 2014 | 43 killed | Massive mudslide destroyed 49 homes, despite prior warnings the hillside was unstable, led to calls for better landslide mapping and regulation |
Aberfan Disaster | Aberfan, Wales, UK | 1966 | 144 killed (116 children) | Coal slag heap collapsed onto a school, killed 116 children on last day before half-term, triggered national outrage, mining waste regulations reformed |
Vargas Tragedy | Vargas State, Venezuela | 1999 | 10,000-30,000 killed | Weeks of rain triggered catastrophic mudslides and flash floods, washed entire neighborhoods into the sea, worst natural disaster in Venezuelan history |
Gansu Mudslide | Zhouqu County, Gansu, China | 2010 | ~1,765 killed | Massive mudslide after heavy rains destroyed half of Zhouqu town, dammed the Bailong River, deforestation blamed for increasing severity |
Khait Landslide | Khait, Tajikistan | 1949 | ~7,200 killed | Earthquake-triggered landslide buried the town of Khait, Soviet government suppressed information for decades, one of the deadliest landslides ever |
Elm Landslide | Elm, Glarus, Switzerland | 1881 | 115 killed | Slate quarrying destabilized mountain, entire community watched the slow-motion collapse, early scientific study of landslide mechanics |
Armero Tragedy (Nevado del Ruiz) | Armero, Colombia | 1985 | ~23,000 killed | Volcanic eruption triggered lahars (volcanic mudslides) that buried the town, Omayra Sánchez's photo shocked the world, warnings were issued but ignored |
Storegga Slides | Norwegian Sea (underwater) | ~6100 BC | Unknown (prehistoric coastal populations) | One of largest known landslides in history, caused massive tsunami that hit Scotland and Norway, may have separated Britain from Europe, submarine landslide |
Attabad Lake Landslide | Hunza Valley, Pakistan | 2010 | 20 killed, 6,000+ displaced | Created a 21km-long lake that flooded the Karakoram Highway, lake still exists today, Hunza villages remain submerged, ongoing geological hazard |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Related Datasets
More in Science
Famous Mathematical Theorems
Pythagoras, Fermat's Last, Godel's Incompleteness or the Poincare Conjecture - which proof is the most beautiful?
20 rows2 shared tags
Famous Extreme Weather Events in History
The 1816 Year Without a Summer, the Tri-State Tornado, the 1900 Galveston Hurricane — which weather event left the deepest mark on human history?
15 rows2 shared tags
Controversial Medical Experiments
Tuskegee syphilis, Stanford prison, Milgram's shocks or Unit 731 - which ethical horror story from medical history is the most shocking?
15 rows2 shared tags
Natural Disasters
Devastating natural disasters throughout history including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, and floods with their human toll.
20 rows2 shared tags
Famous Biology Experiments
Mendel's peas, Miller-Urey's primordial soup, Hershey-Chase blender or CRISPR - which breakthrough shaped biology the most?
16 rows2 shared tags
Scientific Breakthroughs
Transformative scientific discoveries that reshaped our understanding of the world, from heliocentrism to CRISPR gene editing.
12 rows2 shared tags