All disasters
The 88 disasters of the atlas, from the oldest to the most recent. Each page presents the toll, the context and the human, environmental, economic and political consequences of the event.
Before 1800
- Eruption of Mount VesuviusVolcano · Italy (Roman Empire)79
- Plague of JustinianPandemic · Byzantine Empire541 – 549
- The Black DeathPandemic · Europe, Asia, North Africa1347 – 1351
- Shaanxi earthquakeEarthquake · China (Ming dynasty)1556
- Great Fire of LondonFire & heatwave · England1666
- Great Plague of MarseillePandemic · France1720 – 1722
- Lisbon earthquake and tsunamiEarthquake · Portugal1755
- Great Hurricane of 1780Hurricane & cyclone · Lesser Antilles1780
- Laki eruptionVolcano · Iceland1783 – 1784
19th century
- Eruption of Mount TamboraVolcano · Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)1815
- Great Irish FamineFamine · Ireland (United Kingdom)1845 – 1852
- Carrington solar stormFrom space · Worldwide1859
- Eruption of KrakatoaVolcano · Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)1883
- Yellow River floodFlood · China1887
- Bazar de la Charité fireFire & heatwave · France1897
1900 to 1949
- Galveston hurricaneHurricane & cyclone · United States1900
- Eruption of Mount PeléeVolcano · France1902
- Courrières mine disasterIndustrial · France1906
- San Francisco earthquakeEarthquake · United States1906
- Messina earthquakeEarthquake · Italy1908
- Tunguska eventFrom space · Russia (Russian Empire)1908
- Great Flood of ParisFlood · France1910
- Sinking of the TitanicTransport · North Atlantic1912
- “White Friday” avalanchesAvalanche & landslide · Italy (Austro-Italian front)1916
- Halifax ExplosionIndustrial · Canada1917
- “Spanish” fluPandemic · Worldwide1918 – 1920
- Haiyuan earthquakeEarthquake · China1920
- Great Kantō earthquakeEarthquake · Japan1923
- Yangtze and Huai River floodsFlood · China1931
- Bengal famineFamine · British India (today’s India and Bangladesh)1943 – 1944
1950 to 1999
- Great Smog of LondonIndustrial · United Kingdom1952
- Asian fluPandemic · Worldwide1957 – 1958
- Great Chinese FamineFamine · China1959 – 1961
- Malpasset Dam failureFlood · France1959
- Agadir earthquakeEarthquake · Morocco1960
- Valdivia earthquakeEarthquake · Chile1960
- Vajont disasterFlood · Italy1963
- Áncash earthquakeEarthquake · Peru1970
- Plateau d’Assy disasterAvalanche & landslide · France1970
- Bhola cycloneHurricane & cyclone · East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh)1970
- Val-d’Isère avalancheAvalanche & landslide · France1970
- Seveso disasterIndustrial · Italy1976
- Tangshan earthquakeEarthquake · China1976
- Tenerife airport disasterTransport · Spain1977
- Three Mile Island accidentNuclear · United States1979
- Eruption of Mount St. HelensVolcano · United States1980
- Ethiopian famineFamine · Ethiopia1983 – 1985
- Bhopal disasterIndustrial · India1984
- Armero tragedyVolcano · Colombia1985
- Mexico City earthquakeEarthquake · Mexico1985
- Lake Nyos disasterVolcano · Cameroon1986
- Chernobyl disasterNuclear · Ukraine (USSR)1986
- Exxon Valdez oil spillIndustrial · United States1989
- Eruption of Mount PinatuboVolcano · Philippines1991
- Kobe earthquakeEarthquake · Japan1995
- Hurricane MitchHurricane & cyclone · Central America1998
- Storms Lothar and MartinHurricane & cyclone · France1999
- Vargas tragedyFlood · Venezuela1999
Since 2000
- AZF factory explosionIndustrial · France2001
- Sinking of the JoolaTransport · Senegal2002
- Kolka Glacier collapseAvalanche & landslide · Russia2002
- Bam earthquakeEarthquake · Iran2003
- European heatwaveFire & heatwave · Europe2003
- Indian Ocean tsunamiTsunami · Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand…2004
- Kashmir earthquakeEarthquake · Pakistan and India2005
- Hurricane KatrinaHurricane & cyclone · United States2005
- Cyclone NargisHurricane & cyclone · Burma (Myanmar)2008
- Sichuan earthquakeEarthquake · China2008
- Deepwater Horizon oil spillIndustrial · United States2010
- Haiti earthquakeEarthquake · Haiti2010
- Storm XynthiaFlood · France2010
- Christchurch earthquakeEarthquake · New Zealand2011
- Fukushima nuclear accidentNuclear · Japan2011
- Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiTsunami · Japan2011
- Typhoon HaiyanHurricane & cyclone · Philippines2013
- Chelyabinsk meteorFrom space · Russia2013
- West African Ebola epidemicPandemic · West Africa2014 – 2016
- Nepal earthquakeEarthquake · Nepal2015
- Freetown mudslideAvalanche & landslide · Sierra Leone2017
- Hurricane MariaHurricane & cyclone · United States (Puerto Rico)2017
- “Black Summer” megafiresFire & heatwave · Australia2019 – 2020
- COVID-19 pandemicPandemic · Worldwide2019 – 2023
- Cyclone IdaiHurricane & cyclone · Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi2019
- Beirut port explosionIndustrial · Lebanon2020
- Hunga Tonga eruptionVolcano · Tonga2022
- Pakistan floodsFlood · Pakistan2022
- Derna floodsFlood · Libya2023
- Turkey–Syria earthquakesEarthquake · Turkey and Syria2023