Iraq Mercury Poisoning – August 1971
A donation of seed grain from the United States to Iraq was wrongly consumed by Iraqis because of language difficulties,…
Managua Earthquake – Nicaragua – December 22, 1972
The city of Managua suffered extreme damage from the shaking and from fires. On the evening of December 22, 1972,…
Brisbane Flood – Australia – January 21, 1974
Brisbane received twelve inches of rain within one twenty-four-hour period and, as a result, both the city and a large…
Munich Terrorism – Germany – September 5, 1972
Eleven Israeli athletes were massacred in a terrorist attack. The beginnings of the modern phase of terrorism exploded into global…
Hurricane Agnes – June 19, 1972
Flooding from hurricanes is not the most common concern from these storms but in the case of Agnes it was…
Vaiont Dam Collapse – Italy – October 9, 1963
A landslide within the Vaiont Dam in northern Italy displaced a massive volume of water from the dam that flooded…
Tristan da Cunha Volcanic Eruption – October 8, 1961
The eruption forced all the islanders of Tristan da Cunha to evacuate from their homes in mid-Atlantic and remain away…
New York City Mid-air Collision – December 16, 1960
A United Airlines DC8 and a Trans World Airlines Super Constellation collided over New York and bodies and debris fell…
Chile Earthquake – May 22, 1960
This earthquake of magnitude 9.5 hit an area of Chile close to Concepcion, two hundred miles south of the country’s…
Japan Typhoon – September 26, 1959
Nagoya is a city of a million people and this extreme storm caused the deaths of 5,000 people plus the…