An archive of 510 recorded disasters — natural catastrophes, industrial accidents, transport disasters, fires, crowd crushes and epidemics. Every event has its own page. Our own hand-written records come first; the rest are imported from Wikidata and Wikipedia.
The Chilean water crisis is a period of extreme water scarcity and drought in Chile that began in 2010 in response to climate change, agricultural practices and the existing policies established in the early 1980s. It is the longest lasting
Read the full record →The 1976 European heatwave was considered to be the hottest summer in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, during the 20th century. A large high-pressure area dominated most of Europe for all of the summer months. The pressure system
Read the full record →The 2014–17 Brazilian drought was a severe drought affecting the southeast of Brazil including the metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In São Paulo, it has been described as the worst drought in 100 years. The metropolis of
Read the full record →The 1950s Texas drought was a period between 1949 and 1957 in which the state received 30 to 50% less rain than normal, while temperatures rose above average. During this time, Texans experienced the second-, third-, and eighth-driest singl
Read the full record →The 2016 New York Drought was by some measures the worst drought to affect Western New York and parts of the Finger Lakes Region and Southern Tier on record. By the middle of July, the percent of the state by area that was in a D-2 (Severe
Read the full record →From 2006 to 2008, the Southeastern United States experienced a drought. It was caused by an unusually strong Bermuda High pressure and by the timing of La Niña, which causes dry conditions across the Southern United States. 2007 was partic
Read the full record →The 2017 Somali drought was a severe drought that affected Somalia between late 2016 and early 2018, following consecutive seasons of low rainfall across the country. The drought brought widespread crop failure, livestock deaths, and displa
Read the full record →The 2011–2017 California drought persisted from December 2011 to March 2017 and consisted of the driest period in California's recorded history, late 2011 through 2014. The drought wiped out 102 million trees from 2011 to 2016, 62 million o
Read the full record →The 2018 European drought and heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather that led to record-breaking temperatures and wildfires in many parts of Europe during the spring and summer of 2018. It is part of a larger heat wave affecting t
Read the full record →The Eastern Cape region of South Africa experienced a severe multi-year drought from 2015 through early 2020. The drought was one of the worst in the region's history and led the South African government to declare the region a "disaster ar
Read the full record →On 27 September 2025, at least 41 people were killed and around 100 others were injured in a crowd crush during a political rally in Karur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The rally was hosted by C. Joseph Vijay, the founder and president of th
Read the full record →A drought developed in the Western, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States in the summer of 2020. Similar conditions started in other states in August 2020, including Iowa, Nebraska and certain parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. At the s
Read the full record →Petorca in Chile has experienced a drought as part of the Chilean water crisis since 2010. It is the longest and most intense drought in the area in 700 years. By 2018, the Ministry of Public Works had decreed Petorca a "zone of water scarc
Read the full record →A drought in Central Asia that began around April 2021 affected most of Central Asia and parts of Russia, causing mass livestock deaths, most notably of horses, and water shortages for irrigation. Food prices in the areas have been reported
Read the full record →During 2021–2023, Somalia confronted its most severe drought in forty years that affected over 7.8 million people —about half of Somalia’s population. As of 2024, drought-related impacts still continue to affect 4.4 million individuals acro
Read the full record →During the summer of 2022, parts of Europe experienced drought conditions exacerbated by heat waves. This was preceded by a warm and dry spring. On 9 August, a senior European Commission researcher said that it seemed to be Europe's worst
Read the full record →The drought or water crisis in Uruguay from 2022 to 2023 was an event of abnormally low rainfall attributed to the La Niña phenomenon, which had major effects in Uruguayan economy and water supply. The peak of the crisis occurred during
Read the full record →The 1473 heat and drought in Europe was a climatic extreme. The heatwave and drought in 1473–1474 lasted 14 months, affecting Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Southern Scandinavia, Ireland, Northern Italy and parts of Spain. T
Read the full record →Starting in January 2024, most of Zambia began experiencing an ongoing drought, considered to be the worst to hit the country in at least two decades, leading to severe food shortages, water scarcity, and a national emergency declaration. T
Read the full record →The 2023–2024 South American drought refers to an ongoing drought across several states of Brazil in addition to Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia, which has led to several significant impacts including record low water levels, significant water
Read the full record →The Russian famine of 1921–1922, also known as the Povolzhye famine (Russian: Голод в Поволжье 'Volga region famine'), was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted
Read the full record →The aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami included both a humanitarian crisis and massive economic impacts. The tsunami created over 300,000 refugees in the Tōhoku region of Japan, and resulted in shortages of food, water, she
Read the full record →The 869 Jōgan earthquake (貞観地震, Jōgan jishin) and its associated tsunami struck the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu on 9 July 869 (the 26th day of the 5th month in the 11th year of Jōgan; or 13 July 869). The earthquake ha
Read the full record →The 1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami occurred on November 18, at 14.45 in the Anegada Passage about 20 km southwest of Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands). The Ms 7.5 earthquake came just 20 days after the d
Read the full record →The devastating eruption of Oshima–Ōshima began on 18 August 1741 and ended on 1 May the next year. Eleven days into the eruption, the Kampo tsunami (Japanese: 寛保津波, Hepburn: Kampo tsunami) with estimated maximum heights of 60–90 m (200–300
Read the full record →An earthquake occurred in the area of Marash during the early morning hours of November 29, 1114. It had an estimated surface-wave magnitude between 7.4 and 7.7 and an epicenter location in modern-day Turkey. The mainshock was preceded by t
Read the full record →This is a list of earthquakes in 2025. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in significant damage and/or casualties. All dates are listed according to UTC time. The maximum intensities are based on the M
Read the full record →The Tauredunum event (German: Tauredunum-Ereignis) of 563 AD was a tsunami on Lake Geneva (then under the Frankish territory of the Kingdom of Orleans), triggered by a massive landslide which caused widespread devastation and loss of life a
Read the full record →An earthquake occurred on June 3, 1994, at 01:17:37 local time (June 2, at 18:17:37 GMT) off the coast of Indonesia. The epicenter was off the eastern part of the southern Java coast, near the east end of the Java Trench.
Read the full record →The 1343 tsunami struck the Tyrrhenian Sea and Bay of Naples on 25 November 1343. Underground shocks were felt in Naples and caused significant damage and loss of lives. Of major note was a tsunami created by the earthquake which destroyed
Read the full record →The Bōsō Peninsula in Japan was struck by a major tsunami on 4 November 1677, caused by an earthquake at the southern end of the Japan Trench. It was felt onshore with only a maximum of 4 on the JMA intensity scale, but had an estimated mag
Read the full record →The 684 Hakuho earthquake took place in Japan in 684, and is described in the history book Nihon Shoki from the 8th century. The earthquake took place on 26 November 684 (Julian calendar), in the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Tenmu (Ten
Read the full record →The Nice tsunami of 1979 came on October 16. Two tsunamis struck the coast near Nice, accompanied by a landslide at the Nice Airport, and an aseismic submarine landslide. The two waves struck the coast between the Italian border and the tow
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